Saint Martin

The courage of a peace-loving heart 

Martin is famous throughout European Christendom for having shared his officer’s cloak with a poor man on a winter night. A Hungarian by birth, serving in the Roman army in obedience to his father, he was a brave soldier but above all he was a follower of Christ. A conscientious objector before his time, he volunteered to act as a human shield in front of the enemy, who inexplicably turned tail and ran! Later, Martin left the army to become a hermit. Soon, many disciples joined him in Ligugé, forming the first monastic community in Gaul. By popular demand but against his wishes he was made a bishop. He was the great evangelizer of Gaul.