Martin of Tours

(c. 335– c. 400)

   Saint, Order Founder and Bishop.

   Martin was born in Sabaria in what is now Hungary, to a pagan family. He joined the Roman army at the age of fifteen and it is during this period that he is said to have divided his cloak with a beggar. He was baptised after seeing a vision in which Jesus appeared wearing the half-cloak. He became a disciple of hilary of poitiers and founded a monastery at Ligugé. It was a community of hermits and Martin lived quietly until he was appointed Bishop of Tours. He set himself to convert the unchurched of his diocese and to encourage the growth of monasticism. In 386 he pleaded unsuccessfully for the life of the heretic priscillian who was subsequently executed by the Emperor. Martin himself left no writings, but his life was recorded by Sulpicius Severus and this volume was highly influential on later hagiography.

   N.K. Chadwick, Poetry and Letters in Early Christian Gaul (1955);

   P. Monceaux, St Martin (1928);

   C. Stancliffe, St Martin and his Hagiographer (1983).