MARTIN OF TOURS, Saint — Depiction of St Martin in the theory of saints and martyrs in the church of S. Apollinare Nuovo. Mosaic from the 6th century — Ravenna.
He rendered great service as a peacemaker and restorer of Rome after the terrible devastation of the preceding age. He respected civic autonomy; he rebuilt walls, bridges, gates, restored churches and palaces; he built a palace at the SS. Apostles, near the houses of his family; he summoned Gentile da Fabriano and Pisanello to paint in the Lateran. He subdued, by force and more by cunning, the cities of the Patrimony and Bologna, and maintained order there with a firm hand, a new creator of the Papal State. Not overly fond of humanists, he nonetheless employed Loschi and Poggio Bracciolini as his secretaries.
The epitaph in the Lateran greets him as *temporum suorum felicitas*; Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini called him *iusti tenax ac pacis cultor*. But Giles of Viterbo lamented that he had increased the power and wealth of the Church and its luxury at the expense of virtue and honor.
Frugal and simple in his life, he opened the way to deeper corruption in the Curia by not removing its abuses and introducing men not all worthy, inaugurating the sad era of great nepotism by making the Colonna a dangerous power in the Papal State and procuring fiefs for them in the Kingdom; it is true, however, that he received valuable assistance from them in the struggles he had to sustain.
He changed nothing of his previous life, for he continued to live simply and retired in the great new monastery he founded at Marmoutier, two miles from Tours, which soon attracted many monks and became a true seminary of holy and zealous monks, clerics, and bishops. In Gaul up to that time Christianity had gained many followers in the cities, but the countryside remained almost entirely pagan. Martin attended to the conversion of these areas as well. Accompanied by his monks, he undertook regular missionary expeditions in which he preached, converted, destroyed temples replacing them with churches, and introduced Christian festivals. Where he encountered greater resistance, he founded monasteries whose irradition worked the conversion of the people and dispelled superstition.
The beneficial influence of Martin’s zeal was not confined to his Church of Tours but gradually extended throughout Gaul. It even reached the imperial court at Trier, where Martin traveled under Valentinian I (c. 374) and under the usurper Maximus, on the occasion of the trial against Priscillian (q.v.) and his companions (384–86). On this occasion he championed the independence of the Church from political power. He did not, unfortunately, succeed in preventing the execution of the accused, due above all to the pressure of many bishops on the Emperor; but, even with the granting of his communion to the principal accuser of Priscillian, Italo, he obtained that the Priscillianists in Spain be spared.
He died at Candes during a journey undertaken for a work of pacification on 8 November 397. His body was accompanied to Tours by 2,000 monks, many virgins, and an immense multitude of people, and was deposited on 11 November. Thus practically the cult of this great Saint began, who had known how to unite the spirit of prayer with prodigious activity, the monastic ideal and apostolic zeal, and had been favored by God with the gift of miracles. Over the tomb of Martin, Bishop Briccius (d. 444) erected a chapel and later Bishop Perpetuus (491) a grand basilica that was the destination of continuous pilgrimages throughout the Middle Ages. Among the pilgrims should be remembered the kings of France from Clovis to the 16th century. The relics of Martin were transferred in the 9th century to save them from the profanation of the Normans. Restored to their original place in 1323, they were dispersed in 1562 by the Huguenots. Some remains were rediscovered in 1860 and a new basilica was built over them.
The cult of Martin became extremely popular throughout the West and also in the East: in France and then in Germany, Italy, Spain, and England churches and parishes were dedicated to him. The Benedictines, following the example of the founder who dedicated a chapel to Martin at Montecassino, consecrated cloisters and churches to him. Many professions, basing themselves on real and legendary facts of his life, chose Martin as their patron: soldiers, knights, beggars, innkeepers, tailors, etc.
II. ANCIENT VENERATION AND ICONOGRAPHY
The life of St Martin written by Sulpicius Severus was so widely circulated that when the book reached Rome it sold out quickly, and booksellers complacently declared that no book had ever sold faster or at a higher price (Sulpicius Severus, *Dialogues*, I, 23). St Martin was also known to the Romans for having arrived there in 360 to meet Hilary of Poitiers, who had instead already embarked to return to Gaul. The biography of St Martin spread to Carthage, Alexandria, Syria, and even to Thebaid. The popularity of his biography, which perhaps had illustrated copies, also explains the spread of his iconography. Sulpicius Severus himself had an image of the Saint painted in the baptistery of Primuliacum, also illustrated by an epigraph by St Paulinus of Nola.The abbey of Ligugé in Poitou, which he founded in 361 and was restored several times (12th, 15th, 16th, 19th centuries by D. Guéranger), is still today a destination of pilgrimages (4 July and 11 November), especially for the chapel erected on the spot where St Martin is said to have raised a catechumen from the dead. St Martin also founded an abbey near Tours, a monastery of such importance that it was called *marius monasterium*, today Marmoutier, of which the ancient fortified gate (*Portail de la Crosse*) and some remains of the basilica survive. As early as 472 Bishop Perpetuus erected a basilica in Tours in honor of St Martin; scenes of the miracles he performed were depicted around his tomb and illustrated by an epigraph composed by Paulinus of Périgueux and another by Sidonius Apollinaris. Gregory of Tours (*Hist. Franc.*, II, 16) rebuilt his cathedral in the 6th century and adorned it with frescoes reproducing the miracles of the Apostle of Gaul, accompanied by verses composed by Fortunatus and inspired by the narrative of Sulpicius Severus (E. Le Blant, *Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule*, 3 vols., Paris 1856–92, nos. 186–92). At Vienne, in the epitaph of Foedula, it is recorded that she was baptized by St Martin (CIL, XII, 2115). The Frankish kings kept as a sacred relic a small cloak or *cappa* said to have belonged to St Martin: it was kept in the Palace by the “chaplain” and carried into battle; sacred was the oath “super capella domini Martini.” The term *cappella* was given to the religious building that preserved the relics (H. Delehaye, *Loca sanctorum*, in *Anal. Bolland.*, 38 [1930], p. 46 offprint).
G. Wilpert has highlighted that St. MARTIN, together with St. Sylvester, were the first non-martyr saints to be depicted (Mosaiken, p. 102). In Rome during the time of Pope Symmachus (498–514), a church was erected in his honor; in the apse of the chapel of St. Sylvester, Cardinal Uguccione (1201) perhaps renewed the original decoration of Symmachus, which depicted the Madonna enthroned between the apostles Peter and Paul, St. Sylvester, and St. MARTIN (a copy of the fresco in the codex Vat. Barb. lat. 4405, mistakenly reproduced as a mosaic in G. B. De Rossi, *Musaei christiani delle chiese di Roma*, Rome 1872–96, pl. 26). Furthermore, near St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, one of the monasteries dedicated to St. MARTIN provided for the *laus perennis* in the Basilica; from this monastery, Pope Agatho (678–81) sent Abbot John to England. In Ravenna, Bishop Agnellus (556–69) restored to Catholic worship the basilica erected by the Arian king Theodoric, dedicating it to St. MARTIN, and it was called “in calce aureo” for the splendor of its mosaics. St. MARTIN leads the great procession of martyrs toward Christ in majesty. In Nantes, in the church of SS. Peter and Paul, around the mid-6th century, an altar was placed in honor of St. MARTIN. In Bordeaux, Bishop Leontius II (542–64) erected a basilica in honor of St. MARTIN; the poem composed in his honor by Fortunatus is preserved (E. Le Blant, *Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule*, 3 vols., Paris 1856–92, no. 587). Gregory of Tours describes the marvelous basilica of St. MARTIN in Orense, Spain, erected by the Suevian king Carriaric.
At the beginning of the 7th century, Queen Brunhilda and Bishop Syagrius dedicated a basilica to St. MARTIN in Autun, divided by 44 marble columns; the walls were adorned with mosaics admired in a Vita of St. Hugh from the 11th century, and traces of them still remained in the 18th century. In the 12th century, at Jumège, in the church dedicated to the Virgin, beside the high altar was one dedicated to St. Peter and St. MARTIN. In Paris, the church of St-Martin-des-Champs, later demolished by the Normans, stood near the ancient road that brought pilgrims from the north to Santiago de Compostela, occupying the site of the primitive oratory erected by a local inhabitant in gratitude for the miracles worked by St. MARTIN in the region. The oldest church in England mentioned by St. Bede (*Historia ecclesiastica*, I, 26) was dedicated to St. MARTIN, as was also in Scotland the famous “Candida Casa” (ibid., III, 4). The veneration of St. MARTIN in Germany is attested in many places (J. Dorn, *Beiträge zur Patrocinienforschung*, in *Archiv für Kulturgeschichte*, 13 [1917], pp. 9–49, 220–55). In Belgium, in 1205, a chapel was erected in honor of St. MARTIN at Gembloux by Abbot Guibert, a zealous promoter of his cult (H. Delehaeye, *Guibert abbé de Florentes et de Gembloux*, in *Revue des questions historiques*, new series, 12 [1889], pp. 82ff.). But in the diocese of Liège, churches already dedicated to St. MARTIN were rebuilt at the beginning of the 13th century by Bishop Philip of Ratzeburg, a friend of Guibert.
Representations of episodes from the life of St. MARTIN begin with examples of his charity: the young soldier MARTIN divides his cloak to give half to a poor man; as bishop, he offers his tunic to a poor man; he heals a leper by embracing him; he topples idols, has a sacred pine cut down which, as it falls, misses him; he raises the dead, demonstrating to pagans that he is sent by God.
Venantius Fortunatus already points to his own time in Padua the church of St. Justina, adorned with miracles of St. MARTIN (“cuius habet paries Martini gesta figuris,” *De vita s. Martini*, IV, 674: PL 88, 425). In Milan, in the basilica of St. Ambrose, in the sumptuous antependium executed by Vuolvinus for Archbishop Angilbert II (835) in gold and silver repoussé, besides one of the ciphers with the bust of St. MARTIN, St. Ambrose is depicted in ecstasy during Mass, transported in spirit to Tours to the Apostle of the Gauls and then laid in the sarcophagus. Later, the two episodes would be repeated in the mural paintings of the apse at the end of the 12th century. In Spain, episodes from the legend of St. MARTIN are found in a series of 11th-century paintings now in the Episcopal Museum of Vic.
Thus, for example, in the Benedictine abbey of Moissac, the story of St. MARTIN is carved on one of the capitals of the cloister (mid-12th century). On the south side is represented the city of Amiens; on the west side the saint on horseback cuts his cloak to give it to the poor, as the inscription teaches: *dirimit vestem*; on the north, Christ shows the cloak carried by angels; on the east, the bishop raises a dead man. On the abacus is read: *Martinus adhuc catecumenus hac me veste contexit — hic Martinus electus Dei pontifex*.
These cycles are repeated in many sacred buildings, such as at Lucca, but especially in the fresco cycle painted by Simone Martini (1322–26) in the chapel of St. MARTIN in the Lower Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi. The miracles of St. MARTIN are found in the stained glass of many cathedrals in France, such as at Beauvais, Bourges, Tours, and Chartres, where he is depicted seven times. At Vézelay in Burgundy, in the abbatial church, one of the capitals in the nave depicts the episode of St. MARTIN halting the tree with the sign of the Cross as it was about to crush him (11th century). Certainly the most frequently depicted episode is that of the saint dividing his cloak, as at Lucca, Colmar, Metz, etc. St. MARTIN is represented in a 13th-century enamel from Laguenne (Corrèze). At Soudelles (Corrèze), a silver bust of St. MARTIN with translucent enamels dates to the mid-14th century; a statue is in the church of St. MARTIN at Argenta (Calvados), and another in that of Loungy-au-Péché (Sarthe). At Tulle (Corrèze), the ancient abbatial church of the 12th century, later a cathedral, is dedicated to St. MARTIN; to the same century belongs the church of St-Martin at Brive-la-Gaillarde; to the 13th century, those of Colmar and Metz; to the 14th, that of Pont-à-Mousson (Lorraine); to the 15th, that of St-Dié (Vosges); and to the Renaissance style, that of Troyes.
III. Art
In art, the iconography of the saint is found in miniatures of the Sacramentaries of Ivrea (c. 1000) and Udine (11th century). Among many others, mention may be made of a miniature from the *Book of Hours of Anne of Brittany* in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris; a sculpture from the monastery of Ulm of 1418; a Veronese sculpture in the local civic museum, c. 1432; and, in the full Renaissance, the altarpiece for the church of St. MARTIN in Piazza Brambana by Lattanzio da Rimini, that of Antonio Solario now in the Pinacoteca of Naples, that of Butinone in the cathedral of Treviglio, that of Caroto in St. Anastasia in Verona, as well as engravings by Martin Schongauer, Israel van Meckenem, Albrecht Dürer, etc. Van Dyck and Rubens also gave lively, eloquent, and crowded representations in two large canvases preserved in Windsor Castle.He also appears in tapestries (at Angers, the Louvre, etc.), in altarpieces, with depictions of individual episodes, etc. The tradition continued beyond the 16th century. Eustache Le Sueur, in a famous painting (1654) now in the Louvre, gave a representation of the miracle of the Mass.
IV. Folklore
The date on which the feast of the saint (11 November) falls determines the meaning and character of the various popular traditions that take place on that day. They can be traced back to two main inspirations. At that time, the drawing off of the new wine takes place, an occasion for festive and abundant drinking and feasting. Among the traditional foods are, in Italy, turkey and *cicerchiata* (a ring-shaped sweet pastry); in Germany, goose and certain special sweets named after the saint. In Abruzzo, St. MARTIN is a symbol of abundance. The feast is therefore intended, in past centuries, to be linked with the Antesteria of the Greeks, and in particular with the first day of it, called πλούγιζα = drawing off the cask.Popular tradition is further inspired by the fact that the day of the saint marks, especially in countries with cold climates, the beginning of winter: hence there are various customs similar to those of New Year’s Day, or Carnival, or other festivals that inaugurate a seasonal cycle. In many places on this day rents fall due; in Friuli the contracts for farmland are renewed; in Abruzzo those for pig pastures. The custom, widespread in several countries from Belgium to Holland, Germany, and central Italy, of lighting bonfires and torches is also connected with this day; from the sparkle of the flames and the direction of the smoke prognostications are drawn for the agricultural year. In the Veneto, peasant girls go about singing questua songs; and in Germany the songs of St Martin form a special genre of folk poetry. In Agordino the girls distribute hazelnuts to the young men. In some places that evening it was permitted to wear masks.
In France as in Abruzzo the name of the saint is associated with a great number of natural cavities in mountains and rocks: the grotto of St Martin is one of the most famous on the Majella. Many springs, too, to which healing virtues are attributed, are named after the saint. The Abruzzo peasants resort to him for the cure of various ailments, especially colic: for this purpose the sufferers, on that day, roll on the ground near places bearing the saint’s name.
Sometimes the saint is popularly confused with St Martin of Atessa (Abruzzo) and, in France, with St Martin of Nantes. He is moreover the patron of Lucca, of knights, tailors, innkeepers, and geese. — See pl. XVIII.