He is the patron saint of the Papal Swiss Guards and of beggars, hoteliers and knights. He is venerated by the Catholic Church and also by the Orthodox and Coptic ones. He is one of the founders of monasticism in the West and one of the first non-martyr saints proclaimed by the Church.
But what made Saint Martin of Tours, France famous, is the episode of the cloak. The expression “Saint Martin’s summer” derives from this because according to tradition, the Saint, upon seeing a half-naked beggar suffering from the cold during a downpour, gave him half of his cloak; shortly afterwards he met another beggar and gave him the other half of the cloak: immediately afterwards, the sky cleared and the temperature became milder. The Summer of Saint Martinor indicates a possible autumn period in which, after the first frosts, climatic conditions of good weather and relative warmth occur. In the southern hemisphere the phenomenon is observed in late April – early May, while in the northern hemisphere at the beginning of November.
Biography: from weapons to religious vocation
He was born in Pannonia, today in Hungary, in Sabaria to pagans. He was instructed in Christian doctrine but was not baptized. The son of a Roman army officer, he in turn enlisted in the imperial cavalry at a very young age, later serving in Gaul. Having left the army in 356, already baptized perhaps in Amiens, he reached Bishop Hilary in Poitiers who ordained him as an exorcist (a step towards the priesthood). After some travels Martin returns to Gaul, where he is ordained a priest by Hilary.
In 361 he founded a community of ascetics in Ligugé, which is considered the first datable monastery in Europe. At the age of 18, when he donated half of his cloak to the poor man of Amiens, the following night, Christ appeared to him dressed in that same cloak: it was then that he decided to be baptized.
Once his compulsory period of military service was over, he left the army at the age of 25 and went to Poitiers to see Bishop Hilary. A choice made not by chance: Martin chose to go to an anti-Arian Bishop, extraordinary organizer of the opposition to heresy which entered and remained in the Church from the 4th (it began in Egypt) to the 7th century (the last remnants remained among the German Christians).
The Bishop of Poitiers, sentenced to exile for daring to oppose the Arianist policy of Emperor Constantius II, had to settle in Asia, while Martin reached the central regions of Illyricum to convert his mother to Christianity, but was exposed to the harsh mistreatment that the bishops of the region, who had acquired Arianism, inflicted on him. He returned to Italy and organized a hermitage in Milan, where he was soon dismissed by Bishop Auxentius, also a heretic.
As soon as he learned of Hilary’s return from exile, in 360 he headed back to Poitiers, where the Bishop gave him approval to fulfill his vocation and retire to a hermitage 8 kilometers from the city, in Ligugé. Some followers joined him, thus forming, under his direction, the first attested monastic community in France. Here he spent 15 years, studying the Holy Scriptures, doing apostolate in the countryside and sowing miracles as he passed. «He who everyone already considered a saint was thus also considered a powerful man and truly worthy of the Apostles», wrote Sulpicius Severus (ca. 360 – ca. 420) in the biography dedicated to him.
Bishop by popular acclaim
Against his will, the electors gathered in Tours, clergy and faithful, elected him Bishop in 371. Martin carried out his episcopal functions with authority and prestige, without however abandoning his monastic choices. He goes to live in a solitary hermitage, three kilometers from the city. In this retreat, where he was soon joined by numerous followers, he created a monastery, Marmoutier, of which he was Abbot and in which he imposed a rule of poverty, mortification and prayer on himself and his brothers. Here his exceptional spiritual life flourishes, in the humble hut in the middle of the woods, which serves as a cell and where, rejecting diabolical apparitions, he converses familiarly with the saints and angels.
If on the one hand he rejects the luxury and apparatus of a dignitary of the Church, on the other hand Martin does not neglect his episcopal functions. In Tours, where he went to celebrate the divine office in the cathedral, he rejected visits of a worldly nature. Meanwhile he takes care of the prisoners, those sentenced to death; of the sick and the dead, who heals and resurrects. Even natural phenomena obey his intervention.
For Saint Martin, a close friend of the poor, poverty is not an ideology, but a reality to be lived in aid and in the vote. Marmoutier, at the end of his episcopate, counted 80 monks, almost all from the senatorial aristocracy, who had bowed to humility and mortification.
Saint Martin died on 8 November 397 in Candes-Saint-Martin, where he had gone to make peace among the local clergy. His funeral, which was celebrated on November 11, was attended by thousands of monks and nuns.
The nobles Saint Paulinus (355-431) and Sulpicius Severus, his disciples, sold their goods for the poor: the former retired to Nola, where he became Bishop, the latter consecrated himself to prayer.
The great popular devotion in France and Europe
Martin is one of the first non-martyr saints proclaimed by the Church and became the French saint par excellence, a model for Christians who love perfection. His cult spread throughout Europe and November 11th (his liturgical feast) commemorates the day of his burial.
The “apostle of Gaul”, patron of the sovereigns of France, was enormously venerated by the people: the generosity of a knight, ascetic renunciation and missionary activity were associated in him. Almost 500 towns (Saint-Martin, Martigny…) and almost 4000 parishes in French territory bear his name.
The Merovingian and then Carolingian kings kept the cloak of Saint Martin, called the chapel, in their private oratory. This relic accompanied the fighters in war and in times of peace, on the “hood” of Saint Martin, the most solemn oaths were sworn. The term chapel, first used to designate the royal oratory, was later applied to all the oratories in the world.
Why is November 11th celebrated?
Saint Martin died on November 8th but the date of his burial is the 11th. This date became an extraordinary holiday throughout the West, thanks to its popular reputation for holiness and the notable number of Christians who bore the name Martin. At the Council of Mâcon (585) it was decided that it would be a non-working holiday.
From new wine to the end of seasonal agricultural contracts, traditions in Italy
In many regions of Italy, November 11th is symbolically associated with the maturation of new wine (hence the proverb “At San Martino every must becomes wine”) and is an occasion for gatherings and celebrations in which people toast by uncorking the newly matured wine and accompanied by chestnuts or roasted chestnuts. Although a full-fledged religious celebration is not practiced (except in the countries where Saint Martin is the protector), the feast of Saint Martin is nevertheless particularly felt by the local population.
In northern Italy, especially in agricultural areas, until a few years ago all contracts (for work but also for rent, sharecropping, etc.) began (and ended) on November 11th, a date chosen because the work in the fields had already finished without winter having yet arrived. For this reason, once the contracts expired, those who had a house in use had to vacate it on November 11th and this was not unusual, in those days, coming across carts full of every household item moving from one farm to another, making “San Martino”, a popular name, for this very reason, of the move.
Even today, in many northern dialects and sayings, “fare San Martino” retains the meaning of moving.
