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St Martin Large Wooden Statues; Saint Martin of Tours Bishop
November 11
Sabaria (now Szombathely, Hungary), 316-317 - Candes (Indre-et-Loire, France), November 8, 397
He was born in Pannonia (now in Hungary) in Sabaria to pagans. He is instructed in Christian doctrine but is not baptized. The son of an officer in the Roman army, he joined the imperial cavalry at a very young age and then served in Gaul. It is during this period that the famous episode of Martin on horseback takes place, when he cuts his military cloak in two with his sword to defend a beggar from the cold. Leaving the army in 356, already baptized perhaps in Amiens, he joins Bishop Hilary in Poitiers who orders him as an exorcist (a step towards the priesthood). After some travels Martin returned to Gaul, where he was ordained a priest by Hilary. In 361 he founds in Ligugé a community of ascetics, which is considered the first datable monastery in Europe. In 371 he was elected bishop of Tours. For some time, however, he resides in the other monastery he founded four kilometers from the city, and called Mar Moutier. He worked hard for the Christianization of the countryside. He dies in Candes in 397.
Patronage: Mendicants
Etymology: Martin = dedicated to Mars
Emblem: Pastoral staff, orb of fire, Mantle
Memory of Saint Martin, bishop, on the day of his deposition: born of pagan parents in Pannonia, in the territory of present-day Hungary, and called to military service in France, when he was still a catechumen he covered Christ himself with his cloak, concealed in the guise of a poor man. After being baptized, he left the army and led a monastic life in a coenoby founded by himself, under the guidance of Saint Hilary of Poitiers. Finally ordained priest and elected bishop of Tours, he manifested in himself the model of the good shepherd, founding other monasteries and parishes in the villages, instructing and reconciling the clergy and evangelizing the peasants, until he returned to the Lord in Candes.