Today Is The Feast Of St. Martin Of Tours & Sr. Mary Of St. Peter,

[Laudem Gloriae]

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Today is the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. He is in a Carmelite blog because of the Carmelite nun, Sr. Mary of St. Peter (above), who received the revelations of the Holy Face of Jesus and “The Golden Arrow Prayer” for reparation to blasphemies against the Holy Name of Jesus:

[b]THE GOLDEN ARROW PRAYER[/b]

[i]May the most Holy, most Sacred, most Adorable, [/i]
[i]Most Incomprehensible and Ineffable Name of God [/i]
[i]Be always Praised, Blessed, Loved, Adored and Glorified, [/i]
[i]In Heaven, on Earth and under the Earth, [/i]
[i]By all the Creatures of God, [/i]
[i]And by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ, [/i]
[i]In the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. [/i]
[i]Amen. [/i]

Sr. Mary had many trials before she could enter Carmel, including raising the money for her dowry to enter Carmel (in her day the monasteries required dowries for a woman to enter). As she didn’t have the money and was praying to be accepted into the Carmel of Tours, she prayed to and invoked the patron saint of Tours, St. Martin of Tours to come to her aid. In her autobiography she writes of this:

[i]“One day I went to a chapel dedicated to St. Martin. Being his feast day his relics were exposed for the veneration of the faithful; I kissed them with great devotion, and also received holy communion in honour of the great saint of whom, at the time I knew nothing; not even in what part of France he had exercised his holy ministry; but that was of little consequence to me then, overwhelmed as I was with grief and desolation. I addressed to him this simple and fervent prayer:[b] ‘O Holy Saint Martin, look down upon me in my sorrow. I desire to consecrate myself to God, but there is no one to take any interest in me or plead my cause. O holy Saint. I feel convinced that if you were now on this earth your heart would be touched by my distress and you would aid me to obtain the object of all my desires’.[/b] I implored him to receive me in his diocese if there were any religious in it. St Martin heard my prayer, for I am confident that it was through his intercession that I became a Carmelite at Tours. I had neither the desire nor asked my confessor to enter the house of Tours, for I did not know there was a Carmelite monastery in the city until I had been received there”.[/i]

St. Martin of Tours DID answer Sr. Mary of St. Peter’s prayers as a priest she knew came forward and paid her dowry and she was accepted into the Carmel of Tours. Now I should pray to St. Martin AND the patron saint of my town for their intervention and help if eliminating MY debt and entering Carmel!!!

[center][b]ST. MARTIN OF TOURS[/b][/center]

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On this feast day of St. Martin of Tours, I came upon this delightful poem penned by Father Charles L. O’Donnell. It is an account of Martin’s charitable act of giving a beggar half of his cloak. As it turned out, Martin would have a dream that the beggar was in fact Our Lord. Father O’Donnell, a priest and former president of the University of Notre Dame (1928-1934), renders this event to us in elegantly simple verse from the point of view of Our Lord. I think it goes well with the portrait of this act of charity brought to life by Hans von Marées.

That Father O’Donnell also served as a chaplain in World War One makes it appropriate to share on this anniversary of Armistance Day (now Veterans Day) as well.

[b][i]Martin of Tours by Charles L. O’Donnell[/i][/b]

“As I today was wayfaring”—
Holy, Holy, Holy!—low—
Said Christ in heaven’s evening—
The Holies yet more hushed and slow—
“I met a knight upon the road;
A plumed charger he bestrode.
“He saw the beggar that was I—
Holy, Holy, Holy I—long—
Head and foot one beggary—
Holy, Holy, Holy!—song—
One that shivered in the cold
While his horse trailed cloth of gold.
“Down he leaped, his sword outdrawn—
Holy, Holy, Holy!—swells—
Cleaved his cloak, laid half upon—
Holy! now a peal of bells—
Shoulders that the cross had spanned;
And I think he kissed my hand.
“Then he passed the road along,
Holy, Holy, Holy!—laud—
Caroling a knightly song—
Holy! in the face of God.
Yea, Father, by Thy sovereign name,
Begging is a goodly game.”

[b]LIFE OF ST. MARTIN OF TOURS[/b]

When [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11150"]Sulpicius Severus[/url] first met [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] of [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11650"]Tours[/url] he was stunned. Not only did the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishop[/url] offer him [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5904"]hospitality[/url] at his residence — a monk’s cell in the wilderness instead of a palace — but [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] washed Sulpicius’ hands before dinner and his feet in the evening. But Sulpicius was just the kind of [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9193"]person[/url] [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] showed the greatest honor to — a humble [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7463"]man[/url] without any rank or privilege. People of nobility and position were turned away from his [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=19"]abbey[/url] by chalk cliffs, out of fear of the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11360"]temptation[/url] to pride. From that visit, Sulpicius became Martin’s disciple, friend, and biographer. Little is known of many of the saints who died in the early years of [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2927"]Christianity[/url] but thanks to Sulpicius, who wrote his first biography of [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] before the saint died and who talked to most of the people involved in his life, we have a priceless record of Martin’s life.

Born in 315 or 316 in Pannonia, a Roman province that includes modern Hungary, [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] came into a world in transition. Christians were no longer persecuted by the Roman empire but [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2927"]Christianity[/url] was still not accepted by all. Martin’s father, an Roman army officer who had risen through the ranks, remained faithful to the old [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9935"]religion[/url] and suspicious of this new sect, as did Martin’s mother. Therefore it was Martin’s own spiritual yearning and hunger that led him to secretly knock on the door of the local [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2927"]Christian[/url] church and beg to be made a[url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2661"]catechumen[/url] – when he was ten years old. In contemplative prayer, he found the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11571"]time[/url] to be alone with [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5217"]God[/url] that he ached for. In the discussion of the mysteries, he found the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11728"]truth[/url] he hoped for.

He was still an unbaptized [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2661"]catechumen[/url] when he was forced to join the army at 15. The Roman army apparently had a [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=6916"]law[/url] that required sons of veterans to serve in the military. Still, [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] found this so far removed from his desire to be a [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2927"]Christian[/url] [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=8107"]monk[/url] that he had to be held in chains before taking the military oath. Once the oath was administered he felt bound to obey. He was assigned to a [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2754"]ceremonial[/url]cavalry unit that protected the emperor and rarely saw combat. Like his father, he became an officer and eventually was assigned to garrison [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=4101"]duty[/url] in Gaul (present-day France).

Even in the military [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] attempted to live the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7101"]life[/url] of a monk. Though he was entitled to a servant because he was an officer, he insisted on switching roles with his servant, cleaning the servant’s boots instead of the other way around!

It was on this garrison [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=4101"]duty[/url] at Amiens that the event took place that has been portrayed in art throughout the ages. On a bitterly cold winter day, the young tribune [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] rode through the gates, probably dressed in the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9903"]regalia[/url] of his unit — gleaming, flexible armor, ridged helmet, and a beautiful white cloak whose upper section was lined with lambswool. As he approached the gates he saw a beggar, with clothes so ragged that he was practically naked. The beggar must have been shaking and blue from the cold but no one reached out to help him. Martin, overcome with compassion, took off his mantle. In one quick stroke he slashed the lovely mantle in two with his sword, handed half to the freezing [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7463"]man[/url] and wrapped the remainder on his own shoulders. Many in the crowd thought this was so ridiculous a sight that they laughed and jeered but some realized that they were seeing [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2927"]Christian[/url] goodness. That night [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] dreamed that he saw[url="http://www.catholic.org/clife/jesus"]Jesus[/url] wearing the half mantle he had given the beggar. [url="http://www.catholic.org/clife/jesus"]Jesus[/url] said to the [url="http://www.catholic.org/saints/angel.php"]angels[/url] and saints that surrounded him, “See! this is the mantle that Martin, yet a catechumen, gave me.” When he woke, it was the “yet a catechumen” that spurred[url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] on and he went immediately to be baptized. He was eighteen years old.

We don’t know much about the two years that followed but his [url="http://www.catholic.org/prayers/sacrament.php?id=1"]baptism[/url] must have fed his growing desire to make a total commitment to Christ, a commitment that was in conflict with his military role. This conflict came to a crisis when the nomad Franks and Allemanni invaded the empire. It was the practice at the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11571"]time[/url] to give money to soldiers before battle, in order to infuse the soldiers with a greater love of their country and desire to fight. When Julian lined up the soldiers in Gaul to give them their bounty, [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] refused to accept the money — and to fight — saying, “Put me in the front of the army, without weapons or armor; but I [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=12332"]will[/url] not draw sword again. I am become the soldier of Christ.” There seems to be no evidence that [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] had been in combat before so perhaps he never had to reconcile his [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2927"]Christian[/url] beliefs with war. In any case, it does seem an unfortunate [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11571"]time[/url]to make such a decision. Julian, furious at what he saw as cowardice, told [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] he would grant him his wish and put him [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=10046"]right[/url] in the middle of battle the next day. Until that happened, he had [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] imprisoned. However, against all predictions and all explanation, the nomads sent word that they wanted to negotiate for peace and the battle was postponed. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] was released from his prison and from the army.

Searching for direction in his new life, [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] wound up in Poitiers, seeking the guidance and example of Saint Hilary. Hilary wished to make this promising young [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7463"]man[/url] a [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9622"]priest[/url] but Martin, out of humility, refused even to be ordained a deacon. He finally agreed to be ordained an [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=4497"]exorcist[/url] (someone who performed rituals for those who were sick or possessed) when Hilary told him his refusal meant that he thought he was too [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5257"]good[/url] for such a lowly job.

On a trip over the Alps to visit his parents, he was attacked by robbers who not only wanted to steal what he owned but threatened to take his life. Calm and unperturbed, [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] spoke to the robbers about God. One was so impressed he converted and became a law-abiding citizen who told his own story to Sulpicius years later.

But [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] was to find even more trouble in his own home town. Though his mother converted, his father stubbornly refused. When [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] began to denounce publicly the Arian [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5695"]heretics[/url] that were then in power throughout the empire — even within the Church – [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] was whipped and driven out of his own hometown!

He could not escape trouble by leaving. When he discovered that Hilary had been exiled from [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9444"]Poitiers[/url] as well for the same reason, [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] went to an island near [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7979"]Milan[/url] to live as a hermit. The Arians soon discovered that Hilary was even more trouble in exile, because of the writing he did, and let him come back. When Hilary returned to Poitiers, [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url]was there to meet him and renew their old friendship. In order to fulfill Martin’s call to solitude, Hilary gave [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] a wilderness retreat. As disciples came to [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] for direction, he founded a monastery for them called Ligug‚. It was there he performed the first of many miracles. When a [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2661"]catechumen[/url] died before baptism, [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] laid himself over the body and after several hours the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7463"]man[/url] came back to life. Sulpicius also had talked to this [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7463"]man[/url] who was baptized immediately but lived many years after that. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] remained in this monastery near his teacher and friend until after Hilary died.

This was still the era when [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishops[/url] were chosen by the people and when the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishop[/url] of [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11650"]Tours[/url] died, the people decided they wanted an example of [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5813"]holiness[/url] as their new bishop. After that their choice was simple — Martin. But as well as they knew his holiness, they also knew he would never agree to be a [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishop[/url] so they conceived a trick. A citizen of[url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11650"]Tours[/url] came to [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] and begged him to come visit his sick wife. When the kindhearted [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] got to [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11650"]Tours[/url] crowds of people came out of hiding and surrounded him. Unable to escape, he was swept into the city. The people may have been enthusiastic about their choice but the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishops[/url] there to consecrate the new [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishop[/url] declared they were repelled by this dirty, ragged, disheveled choice. The people’s reply was that they didn’t choose [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] for his haircut, which could be fixed by any barber, but for his [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5813"]holiness[/url] and poverty, that only charity and [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5305"]grace[/url] could bring. Overwhelmed by the[url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=12332"]will[/url] of the crowds the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishops[/url] had no choice but to consecrate Martin.

Instead of living in a palace, [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] made his first home as [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishop[/url] in a cell attached to a church in hopes of being able to maintain his lifestyle as a monk. But at that [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11571"]time[/url] [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishops[/url] were more than spiritual pastors. With the Empire’s administration disintegrating under outside invasion and internal conflict, often the only authority in a town like[url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11650"]Tours[/url] was the bishop. People came to [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] constantly with questions and concerns that involved all the affairs of the area.

To regain some of his solitude [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] fled outside the city to live in a cabin made of branches. There he attracted as many as eighty disciples who wanted to follow him and founded the monastery of Marmoutiers. He kept in touch with [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11650"]Tours[/url] through [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9622"]priest[/url] representatives who reported to him and carried out his instructions and duties with the people.

It may seem from this that [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] did not get involved with what was going on but [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] was deeply committed to his responsibilities.
One of those responsibilities was, he felt, the missionary [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=3334"]conversion[/url] of those who still held to various non-Christian beliefs. In those early days of [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2927"]Christianity[/url] such old beliefs survived in abundance. He did not attempt to convert these people from a high [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9739"]pulpit[/url] or from far away. His method was to travel from house to house and speak to people about God. Then he would organize the converts into a community under the direction of a [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=9622"]priest[/url] of monk. In order to let them know of his continued love and to keep them following the faith, he would then visit these new communities regularly.

Of course he ran into resistance. In one rather ridiculous scene, locals decided to get back at him by dressing up as the gods. So in the middle of the night, he was visited by a waggish talkative Mercury, a doltish Jupiter, and an enthusiastically naked Venus, as well as various “wood spirits.” Needless to say, he was unconvinced by this show.

In one town, when he tried to convince the locals to cut down a pine tree they venerated, they agreed — but only if [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] would sit where the tree was going to fall! [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] seated himself directly under the path of the leaning tree and the townspeople began to cut from the other side. However, just as the tree began to topple, [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] made the [url="http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=1817"]sign of the cross[/url] and the tree fell in the opposite direction — slowly enough to miss the fleeing townspeople. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] won many converts that day.

Martin tore down many non-Christian temples and always built a [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=2927"]Christian[/url] church in their place to make a point about true worship and give people a genuine replacement for their false idols. In once case when a huge tower was not torn down under his orders, a bolt of lightning came to destroy it after his prayers.

Martin was also dedicated to freeing of prisoners, so much so that when authorities, even the emperors, heard he was coming, they refused to see him because they knew he would request mercy for someone and they would be unable to refuse. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] was so dedicated that few escaped his entreaties. One who didn’t was a general named Avitianus who arrived at [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11650"]Tours[/url] with ranks of prisoners he intended to torture and execute the next day. As soon as [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] heard of this cruel plan, he left his monastery for the city. Although he arrived there after midnight, he went straight to the house where Avitianus was staying and threw himself on the threshold crying out in a loud voice. Sulpicius tells us that it was an [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=774"]angel[/url] who awakened Avitianus to tell him [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] was outside. The servants, certain Avitianus was dreaming, reassured him there was no one out there (without looking themselves). But after the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=774"]angel[/url] woke him up the second time, Avitianus went outside himself and told Martin, “Don’t even say a word. I know what your request it. Every prisoner shall be spared.” Remarkably enough Sulpicius had this story from Avitianus himself, who loved to tell it.

Martin was human and made mistakes. In spite of what we may think of people in earlier times, many were skeptical of his [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=12111"]visions[/url] of demons, believing them to come from too much fasting. He also announced eight years before he died that the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=863"]Antichrist[/url] had been born. But his visions, whatever the source, are still instructive.

At one point the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=3815"]devil[/url] appeared to him dressed in magnificent robes, encrusted with gold and gems, and announced he was [url="http://www.catholic.org/clife/jesus"]Jesus[/url] and that [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] was to adore him. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] immediately saw the mistake the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=3815"]devil[/url] had made (and had to make) and asked, “Where are the marks of the nails? Where the piercing of the spear? Where the crown of thorns? When I see the marks of the Passion I shall adore my Lord.” [url="http://www.catholic.org/clife/jesus"]Jesus[/url] would not come in riches but with the signs of his suffering and poverty.

Martin’s compassion was as well-known as his miracles. In just one case out of many a father came to him griefstricken that his daughter had never spoken. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] healed her by asking her to say her father’s name — which she did.

However it was this compassion and mercy that led to what he considered his greatest mistake. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]Bishops[/url] from [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=10978"]Spain[/url]including a [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishop[/url] named Ithacius had gone to the emperor soliciting his help in destroying a new [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5695"]heresy[/url] taught by a[url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7463"]man[/url] named Priscillian. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] agreed completely that Priscillian was teaching [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5695"]heresy[/url] (among other things, he rejected marriage, and said that the world was created by the devil) and that he should be excommunicated. But he was horrified that Ithacius had appealed to a secular authority for help and even more upset that Ithacius was demanding the execution of Priscillian and his followers. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] hurried to intervene with emperor Maximus, as did Ambrose of Milan. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] stated his case that this was a church [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7732"]matter[/url] and that secular authority had no power to intervene and that [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=4487"]excommunication[/url] of the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5695"]heretics[/url] was punishment enough. He left believing he had won the argument and saved the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5695"]heretics[/url] but after he left Ithacius began his manipulation again and Priscillian and the other prisoners were tortured and executed. This was the first [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=11571"]time[/url] a death [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=10699"]sentence[/url] had been given for [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5695"]heresy[/url] – a horrible precedent.

Martin’s mistake was yet to come. He hurried back in order to forestall a massacre of the Priscillianists. Once there he absolutely refused communion with the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishops[/url] who had murdered the people. This was a strong statement that rejected the persecuting [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=1918"]bishops[/url] as part of the communion of the Church.

Unfortunately, the emperor Maximus knew the key to Martin’s heart. He had prisoners that supported the former emperor [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5333"]Gratian[/url] in captivity and knew [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] wanted mercy for them. Maximus said that he would free these prisoners if [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] would share communion with Ithacius. [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7629"]Martin[/url] agreed to do so, but afterwards was so overcome with shame and guilt for giving in to such [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=4469"]evil[/url] that he never went to any more assemblies of bishops.

On his way home, still weighed down with a feeling that he had sinned by communicating with Ithacius, he had a vision of [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=774"]angel[/url] who told him that although he was [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=10046"]right[/url] to regret what he did, he was wrong to brood over his faults. “You saw no other way out,” the [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=774"]angel[/url] said. “Take courage again: recover your [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=8760"]ordinary[/url] firmness; otherwise you [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=12332"]will[/url] be imperilling not your [url="http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=5201"]glory[/url] but your salvation.” This advice we all should remember if we dwell too much on our mistakes.

Martin died when he was over 80 years old on November 8. Historians disagree on the year and place it anywhere from 395 to 402. His feast is November 11, the day he was buried, at his request, in the Cemetery of the Poor.[list]

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Edited November 11, 2012 by Laudem Gloriae

[Rosa immaculata]

Ave Maria!
St Martin de Tours is a great great French saint!! We are very proud of having him in our saints!! Thank you for the prayers, and I did not know that he likes to help to pay debts of the future nuns/ monks etc... hum, I think I will begin to pray him, ahah!! (plus Saint Rita!)