St. Martin of Tours: the Life Story of One of the Most Well-known Western Saints
“Therefore we also, since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and
the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race
that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews
12:1-2).
The Orthodox Church has always been rich not only on
Eastern saints, but also on ancient saints of the Western Europe, and their
number is quite large in fact. However, since Eastern saints are stated first in our
menologies and martyrologies, the memory and the importance of numerous Western
saints for universal Orthodoxy sometimes fade and this is why they often vanish from our prayerful life.
However, the significance of these saints can be
rather high. They are especially important for the Orthodox Christians, who live far from
their homeland or just in terms of other diasporas, in the countries where
these saints had become
well-known thanks to their confession of Orthodoxy and their good deeds. For
example, there was a case with one Russian immigrant woman in the 20th
century, who lived in Paris. The woman suffered from severe headache and was
already desperate about finding a cure. Once she had a dream, in which St.
Genevieve appeared to her and asked: “Why do not Russians pray to me in my
city?” Soon, the woman came to St. Genevieve’s grotto and her pain was gone.
And one of such saints, whom we commemorate on October 12 (October 25) – but whom not all Orthodox Christians have heard about – is St. Martin of Tours, the
patron saint of France.
The future saint was born in Pannonia in 336 A.D. (the
present day territory of Hungary, Croatia and Austria) to a non-Christian
family. At the age of 10 he turned to Christ and became a catechumen of a local
Christian community despite the protests of his parents. The saint's father was
a military tribune and that is why his son, when he was 15, was called for
service in the Roman army. Martin was serving in Gaul and even had the rank of an
officer. It was during his military service, when Martin did one of his most
well-known deeds – he cut his cape with a sword and gave a half of it to the
almost naked homeless person suffering from winter cold. As it is said in the
life story of the saint, when Martin fell asleep that day, he saw Christ in a
dream, dressed in the very cape that Martin gave to the poor man. Then Christ told His angels: “It was Martin, who dressed me in this vestment, although he is just a
catechumen”. That dream strengthened Martin’s faith, and at the age of 18 he was
baptized. The saint left his military career because of the unwillingness to
kill and began to preach Christian faith. More than just once he was exiled from
various cities by the Arian bishops. Later he would become the disciple of St. Hilary
of Poitiers, the great and well-known theologian of the West, and go to the monastery
not far from Poitiers. Soon, a whole new monastic community gathered around
him, which later became the breeding ground for monasticism in Gaul.
In 371, St. Martin was chosen against his will as a
bishop of the city of Tours. The citizens were very inspired with the way of life
the saint always stuck to. Martin was asked to come to Tours for his
ordination under the guise of praying for a severely ill person. According to
one of the versions, when Martin found out the truth, he tried to hide is a shed for geese. However, that did now work out: the gees in the shed began to gabble
and make noise, which made it easy for people to find Martin there. St. Martin
looked so torn and messy after his unseccessful attempt to escape that his critics claimed he was not worthy of the rank
of a bishop but still the majority of people did not supported them. As a bishop,
Martin paid much attention to evangelization of the local mostly pagan
citizens, to the spreading of Bible, as well as was really kind towards the
poor and cared a lot about the sick and hungry. By this reason he was called
“the Merciful”. When Martin became a bishop he did not forget about his monastic
ideals and moved from the city to the monastery of Marmutie, which he organized
not for from Tours. It is known that in
that monastery St. Martin established special strict rules of asceticism.
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| The Icon of St. Martin in one of the churches of St. Elisabeth Convent |
St. Martin is also well-known for his Christian and
truly evangelic attitude towards people of other beliefs. When the group of
priscillians was judged by the secular court on the application by one of the
bishops, St. Martin personally went to Trier, where he claimed that the case of
those cultists should have been heard at the church court. Together with St.
Ambrose of Milan, he insisted that execution was impossible in that case,
recalling the words of Jesus Christ to His disciples and His parable about the
whet and the tares. Thus, the saint managed to persuade even emperor-usurper
Maximus. However, as soon as the saint left the city, Priscill and several of
his followers were executed, what caused great dismay arount the whole Church
of Christ: people still remembered about the recent times, when they were
persecuted for their faith, too.
St. Martin devoted so much time and effort to
rescuing the imprisoned that the authorities and even emperors, when they
heard that Marin of Tours was going to visit them, refused to meet him since
they knew he would ask them to have mercy on some prisoners and understood that
they could not refuse that.
St. Martin passed away in the city of Canda in the
year 397. He became one of the most honored saints in the West. Thousands of churches
were named in his honor, and he also remains the national patron saint for France
even today. The one who always inspired local Christians for their own monastic
feats.
By the prayers of St. Martin of Tours, Lord Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us.
By John Nichiporuk, a Bachelor of Theology,
specialized in Biblical Studies.
The Catalog Of Good Deeds
