Patron saint of the country parish
by Mike Oettle
MARTINMAS comes around on 11 November. In the last article we learned about Martinus, or Martin of Tours, the Roman soldier who gave his life to Christ and has been an inspiration to pacifists ever since. But as I indicated, Martin’s experiences as a soldier and his ill-treatment at the hands of the Arian heretics are only part of his story, for we have not yet seen him wearing a mitre.
The year AD 371, when Martin was about 56, found him living as a
monk outside the city of Limonum (Poitiers). Just outside the city at a place
now called Ligugé, he had settled alone and eventually founded what was
probably the first monastery in Transalpine Gaul (present-day France). His
friend Hilarius (Hilary or Hilaire) had been restored in AD 360 as bishop of
the city.
At Ligugé he had developed a new form of monasticism: in the
deserts of the Middle East, where the monastic life had begun, men had gone
alone to live a life of prayer, fighting against the demons who they believed
dwelt in the deserts. Now Martin taught his followers to be active in
evangelism as well as in prayer, fasting and physical labour. He became known
as someone people could turn to when they were sick, or to settle quarrels.
And so, against his will, Martin was in 371 made bishop of the
city of Cæsarodunum on the River Liger[1] – again he founded a monastery, on the cliffs of the Liger 3 km from the
city at a place later called Marmoutiers. Here he also undertook training for
the priesthood, which grew into a school for boys. Here many future leaders of
the Church came to be trained, including a Romano-British chieftain’s son from
Cumbria, named Ninianus, who was to become the Apostle to the Picts.
But while the monastic community survived, Martin’s most
enduring monument is to be found in rural districts around the world, for he
was the first bishop to take the Church out of the cities and into the land of
the pagans (plattelanders) or heathen (heath-dwellers) – he can fairly be
called the patron saint of the country parish.
One story told of him is that in a particular village he had
obtained the community’s consent to the destruction of their temple. But
when he commanded the felling of a sacred pine tree, the men of the village
grew resentful and said they would defend their tree. After a parley, Martin
agreed to stand under the tree and demonstrate the power of his God to save
him. The cheering pagans set to with their axes with a will, expecting it to
crush the bishop. “As the tree splintered, Martin raised his hand in the sign
of the Cross, the trunk began to heel over, waver and, as if caught by a sudden
wind, reversed its direction and crashed the opposite way.”[2] After that, the entire village was baptised.
Not only evangelism but healing was a gift of Martin’s, and
through his prayers the famous poet Paulinus of Nola was cured of his
blindness, and a small child was brought back to life near Autricum (now
Chartres).
The Priscillian heresy also saw Martin involved in controversy.
The Hispanic bishop Priscillianus not only preached the renunciation of all
pleasures and taught some strange things about the Trinity, but was also
convicted of sorcery and was condemned to death by the Emperor Magnus Maximus.
Martin travelled to Augusta Treverorum in Belgica[3] to plead for Priscillianus’s life, arguing that he should be dealt with by the Church, not the State. But Priscillianus was executed – the first heretic to be
put to death – and his heresy grew in strength, especially in Hispania (Spain).
Martin died on 8 November 397, 60 km from his city at a place now called Candes-St Martin, and was buried at Cæsarodunum on 11 November. He was so well loved that he became the first non-martyr to be revered as a saint, and churches were dedicated in his name across Europe. Ninianus’s church at Whithorn in Galloway was named after him. Two famous English churches, one at Canterbury and another in London (St Martin’s-in-the-Fields) bear his name – in fact, by the year 1800 173 ancient churches in England had his name, and in France 500 villages and 4 000 parish churches share this distinction.
The calendar of the Book of Common Prayer marks his name twice: on 11 November and on 4 July, the anniversary of his consecration as bishop. In Europe, fine, warm winter weather often occurs in the first fortnight of November and is called St Martin’s Summer.
