MARTIN ST, was born at Sabaria in Pannonia, (at present Stain in Lower Hungary), in the beginning of the fourth century. His father was a military tribune; and he himself was obliged to carry arms, although peace and solitude were much more agreeable to his inclination. He was remarkable for every virtue, in a profession which is generally considered to give a sanction to vice. He divided his coat with a
naked wretch whom he met at the gate of Amiens; and it is reported, that Jesus Christ appeared to him on the night following, clothed in this half of his coat. Martin was then a catechumen; but he soon afterwards received baptism, and renounced the military profession for the ecclesiastical. After passing many years in solitude, St Hilary bishop of Poictiers gave him the power to cast out devils. On his return to Pannonia, he persuaded his mother to embrace Christianity; and with great zeal and activity opposed the Arians, who governed the church in Illyria. When he was publicly whipt for giving testimony to the divinity of Christ, he bore the punishment with the constancy and patience of the first martyrs. This illustrious champion for Christianity, when he heard that St Hilary was returned from banishment, went and settled in the neighbourhood of Poictiers. In this retirement, a great number of monks placed themselves under his direction. His virtues became every day more splendid and remarkable, till he was drawn from his solitude, and with the general approbation of the clergy and people elected bishop of Tours in the year 374. To the zeal and charity of a bishop, he joined the humility and poverty of an anchorite. That he might detach himself more from the world, he built the celebrated monastery of Marmoutier, which still remains, and which is believed to be the oldest abbey in France. It is situated near the city of Tours, betwixt the Loire and a steep rock. In this situation, together with 80 monks, St Martin displayed the most exemplary sanctity and mortification; nor were there any monks better disciplined than those of Marmoutier. After he had converted his diocese to the Christian faith, he became the apostle of all Gaul. He diffused the doctrines of Christianity among the heathens, destroyed their temples, and (according to the writers of his life), confirmed the truth by an infinite number of miracles. The emperor Valentinian, at that time in Gaul, received him with every mark of respect and honour. The tyrant Maximus, who had revolted against the emperor Gratian, and seized on Spain, England, and Gaul, received him in a manner no less distinguished. The holy bishop attended him at Treves in the year 383, to solicit some favours. Maximus made him sit at his table with the most illustrious persons of his court, and placed him at his right hand. In drinking, the usurper commanded his servants to give him a cup, that he might again receive it from him; but this extraordinary prelate gave it to the priest who accompanied him on his journey. This holy boldness, far from displeasing them, gained him the favour of the emperor and of his court. Martin, who was an enemy to heresy, but a friend of mankind, employed his influence with this prince to preserve the Priscillianists, who were prosecuted by Ithace and by Idace, bishops of Spain. The bishop of Tours would hold no communion with men whose principles of religion inclined them to shed the blood of mankind; and he obtained the life of those whose death they had solicited. On his return to Tours, he prepared himself for the reward of his labours in another world. He died at Candes the 8th of November 397, but according to others on the 11th of November 400. His name is given to a particular opinion concerning the mystery
Martin. mystery of the holy Trinity. St Martin is the first of the saints confessors to whom the Latin church offered public prayers. His life is written in elegant Latin by Fortunatus, and Sulpicius Severus one of his disciples. Paul of Perigueux and Fortunatus of Poitiers have given us Sulpicius's life of Martin in verse; but they have debased the admirable prose of the author by a wretched poetical imitation. Nicolas Gervais wrote also the life of St Martin, full of many curious and entertaining facts, published at Tours in 1699, in 4to. The tradition at Amiens is, that St Martin performed the act of charity which rendered him so famous, near an ancient gate of the city, of which the ruins are still visible. The following Latin verses, which do more honour to the saint than to the poet, are inscribed on one of the stones:
Hic quondam vestem Martinus demidiavit ;
Ut faceremus idem, nobis exemplificavit.