Todays Saint: St Martin of Tours (c.316 - 397) He was born in the Roman province of Pannonia (approximating to the western half of modern Hungary) in about 316 and was educated at Pavia in Italy. He was baptized, left the army and after spending some time as a hermit on an island off the Ligurian coast, founded a monastery at Ligugé in western France, where he lived a monastic life guided by St Hilary. Later he was ordained priest and became bishop of Tours. In his actions he gave an example of what a good shepherd should be. He founded other monasteries, educated the clergy, and preached the Gospel to the poor. He died in 397. The famous story about St Martin is that while a soldier in Amiens he gave half of his military cloak to a beggar and later had a dream in which the beggar revealed himself as Christ. See the articles in Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopaedia. = 1) && (Math.round(j) = 1) && (Math.round(j) = 1) && (Math.round(j) = 1) && (Math.round(j)  11 November  SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS Bishop († 397) When a mere boy, Martin became a Christian catechumen against his parents wish; and at fifteen was therefore seized by his father, a pagan soldier, and enrolled in the army. One winters day, when stationed at Amiens, he met a beggar almost naked and frozen with cold. Having no money, he cut his cloak in two and gave him the half. That night he saw Our Lord clothed in the half cloak, and heard Him say to the angels: Martin, yet a catechumen, hath wrapped Me in this garment. This decided him to be baptized, and shortly after he left the army. He succeeded in converting his mother; but, being driven from his home by the Arians, he took shelter with St. Hilary, and founded near Poitiers the first monastery in France. In 372 he was made Bishop of Tours. His flock, though Christian in name, was still pagan in heart. Unarmed and attended only by his monks, Martin destroyed the heathen temples and groves, and completed by his preaching and miracles the conversion of the people, whence he is known as the Apostle of Gaul. His last eleven years were spent in humble toil to atone for his faults, while God made manifest by miracles the purity of his soul. Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 20:59:27 +0000
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