St Martin of Tours, “The Glory of Gaul”



St Martin of Tours, “The Glory of Gaul” -- November 11th

Saint Martin, the Caballero or Chevalier, was born in the year 316, in Sabaria, capital of the Roman province of Pannonia, along the Danube in modern-day Hungary. His father, a senior officer in the Roman Army, named his son after Mars, the God of War. The boy was raised to value the characteristics of bravery and courageousness.

As the son of an officer, he joined the Roman Army at the age of fifteen, in the ranks of the horse cavalry. To own a horse, in those times, was a significant symbol of status: peasants and infantry soldiers went about on foot. Only nobles, the wealthy, and warriors of aristocratic background or great military prowess rode on horseback.

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|The young equestrian officer was stationed |[pic] |

|in Gaul, modern France, where he became | |

|known among his peers for his disciplined | |

|and quiet way of life. | |

| | |

|One day, while with his corps of fellow | |

|Knights at the gates of the city of Amiens, | |

|he saw a beggar who was nearly naked. | |

|On an impulse, he removed his cloak and | |

|cut it in half, and gave half to the beggar… | |

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|Drawing based on an Italian holy card, 19th-century lithograph, online: | |

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Asleep that night in the barracks, he had a dream vision of Jesus, saying to some angels: “Here is Martin, not yet baptized, who has clad me.” When he awoke, his divided cloak was restored to its original condition. He sought out baptism after this, and became a Christian. Soon, his faith would not allow him to continue, as before, as a horse soldier.

Following a battle victory over some of the Gallic tribes, who were fighting their long struggle against the Roman Imperial regime, legend tells of how Martin angered the Emperor, Trajan, when he refused a war bounty paid to the horse officers of his unit.

Martin asked for his share to be given to his comrades; and for his lack of gratitude, Trajan sent him to jail, where he remained until a truce was declared in the conflict. Thus, he is sometimes identified as the first “conscientious objector.”

Martin became a monk and lived a life of committed and energetic preaching, and ministry in service of the poor, in the region of Gaul around Tours. He shunned the growing power of the church authorities and the limelight, but was “drafted” to become bishop of Tours in 372.

One story says he was lured out of his hermitage by a false message of emergency, involving loved ones, which had actually been sent by the authorities, with the intention of getting him to come into the town…

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| |According to one of many folktales about Saint |

| |Martin, he was so determined not to be elected bishop|

|[pic] |that he ran away from the delegation sent to call |

| |him, and tried to hide in the midst of a large flock |

| |of geese! |

| | |

| |The noise of the geese tipped off the search party, |

| |and he was taken to Tours and elected bishop by |

| |popular acclamation. |

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Geese: Detail of an illustration by Howard Pyle (1853-1911) titled: “The Apple of Contentment.”

Howard Pyle is known as the “father of modern illustration.”

See:

Because of this story, roast goose was the traditional festival meal on his saint’s day, November 11th, when children in old Flanders, Northern Germany, France, and Austria received small gifts, such as children in the Netherlands would receive on St. Nicholas Day, December 6th.

One treat associated with this time of year is the “Weckmann,” also called a “Stutenmann,” or “Bread Man,” – made in this shape, perhaps, to remind children of the beggar in the story. It is the origin of the “gingerbread man” cookies we still enjoy during this season, especially.

In some places, other traditional cookies are served, in curved shapes, called: “St. Martin’s Horseshoes.” They are rich with butter and ground almonds, a symbol of love and renewal. The new batches of wine and ale were sampled, at this time, and the lantern-lit feast helped remind people of hope in the darkness and gathering cold of the season.

Saint Martin was invited to the feast by inviting someone who had nowhere else to eat, and the foods associated with the feast were often made so that the dishes could be divided in two and shared with another, like the famous cloak.

As bishop, Martin became known for intervening on behalf of prisoners and those who had been declared heretics, and those who faced the death penalty.

He continued to emphasize ministries of service to the poor, going about on the plain habit of a simple monk, so that many of his fellow bishops criticized him for not looking like a bishop.

| |[pic] |

|There are hundreds | |

|of folk tales about | |

|St. Martin throughout | |

|the rural regions | |

|of France that have | |

|allowed scholars of the | |

|early Middle Ages to | |

|trace the routes he | |

|followed to visit the | |

|parishes in his region. | |

| | |

Map of the pilgrimage routes related to St. Martin, found online with the article: “Saint Martin of Tours; European Figure, Symbol of Sharing.”

Bishop Martin continued in this ministry of preaching and service, converting many to Christianity, until his death, of natural causes, in the year 397, at the venerable age of 81.

The former horse soldier, who used his sword to guard and protect others, and who vowed not to kill, did not die a violent death.

November 11th, his feast day, marks the day he was buried, at his request, in the Cemetery of the Poor outside Tours. A Benedictine monastery grew up around this place, and became a major site of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages.

The restored cloak of St. Martin, from the story about the beggar, became one of the most important relics in the Medieval church. For many years, it was kept at the court of the Frankish, Merovingian kings; in a chamber that was not officially a church, but a part of the palace, near the guard barracks. The relic was cared for by a cleric whose office was named after the cloak: cappella in Latin, or “chapel” in English.

| |[pic] |

|Those who took care of the chapel became “chaplains” – who served in settings| |

|outside the normal structures of a formal church. So the cloak of St. Martin | |

|is associated with the origin of the wide-ranging ministries of chaplains: in| |

|hospitals and on campuses, on battlefields and disaster sites, in prisons and| |

|jails, and on ships and military bases all over the world, among many other | |

|kinds of places not normally defined as a “church.” | |

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|Online image: “Martin von Tours,” | |

| | |

Eventually, the restored cloak was taken to the Benedictine monastery that grew around St. Martin’s community at Tours. The monastery and all its relics were burned by radical Protestants in 1562, and the destruction of the monastery was completed during the French Revolution.

But the importance of St. Martin in European history did not disappear. Martin Luther was named for St. Martin because he was baptized on St. Martin’s Day – November 11th. This was the custom of the time, prior to the Reformation.

In the 18th Century “Enlightenment” period, Saint Martin’s legacy inspired architectural marvels in the Anglican Church, through the construction, during the 1720’s, of the Church of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields in London; built by architect, James Gibbs, on a site near modern Trafalgar Square that has been dedicated to the soldier-saint since the 1200’s.

Later, Saint Paul’s Chapel, originally a mission church of Trinity Parish in Lower Manhattan, was built in the 1760’s, in the same architectural style as the original James Gibbs design. Its steeple is almost an exact replica of the one in London.

[pic]

An 1835 engraving of the Church of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields, London, online image:

See also: “The Gibbs Church: A Paradigm for America,” by Calder Loth, Blog: “The Classicist,”

online:

|[pic] |In many parts of Europe that were scarred by the religious wars, over the |

| |centuries, |

| |it has become the custom for Protestants and Roman Catholics to join in |

| |lantern-lit processions on the Feast of St. Martin, |

| |led by a man on horseback, dressed as the |

| |soldier saint. |

| | |

| | |

| |“Stained glass” panel for |

| |a Martin’s Lantern, |

| |online: |

| |RqKgZuCw4G0/SvVY8l2a6dI/ |

| |AAAAAAAAFXQ/ |

| |JAOnjL1fM6s/s1600-h/ |

| |Stain+Glass+image.jpg |

November 11th has become Veterans’ Day, or “Remembrance Day” in Canada, by way of being “Armistice Day” or the day, on the 11th of November, at the 11th minute after the 11th hour, when the guns of World War One fell silent; the moment in 1918 when the peace treaties were signed that ended World War One, or the “Great War,” as it was called then.

This past August, 2014, was the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of this terrible “War to End All Wars…” Most of the American “doughboys” who were drafted and sent “Over There” to fight in Europe shipped out from the old piers in Hoboken, after they had been seized by the Federal Government from the great German shipping lines, such as Hamburg-Amerika. Learn more about it at the Hoboken Historical Museum:

As we remember the veterans, let us also remember that there have been many Martins and Martinas named in the tradition of this wonderful saint: Martin Luther, the Reformer; Martin de Porres, the mixed-race African-Spanish Peruvian saint, whose day of commemoration is November 3rd; and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., are the most well known.

All of these Martins were known for their concern for the poor and for justice issues, and their readiness to carry the Good News of Jesus Christ to unusual places and situations, outside of the “normal” settings of the church.

Holy Spirit, raise up in our own day renewers of the church like these named “Martin” whose voices give inspiration to your people, and proclaim the presence of your kingdom, through your Word, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Written by Reverend Lisa Bellan-Boyer, Associate Interfaith Minister, Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church

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Images found online:

Saint Martin of Tours, by El Greco:

Saint Martin de Porres, 19th-century holy card:

Martin Luther, book illustration, early 20th Century:

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Photographed with a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, by Bob Fitch for Black Star, c.1960:

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