While Martin was still a soldier he experienced the vision that became the most-repeated story about his life. At the gates of the city of Amiens with his soldiers, he met a scantily dressed beggar. Martin cut his own military  cloak in half and shared it with the beggar. That night he dreamed that  Jesus came to him and returned the half cloak Martin had shared with him. He heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clad me." When Martin woke his cloak was restored. The miraculous cloak was preserved as a relic, and entered the relic collection of the Merovingian kings of the  Franks. The Latin word for "short cloak", cappella in Latin, was extended to the people charged with preserving the cloak of St. Martin, the cappellani or "chaplains" and from them was applied to the royal oratory that was not a regular church, a "chapel".

The dream had such an impact on Saint Martin that he was baptised the next day and became a Christian. He decided to leave the army and became a monk near the city of  Tours.

Martin worked for the conversion of the populace to Christianity, making many preaching trips through western and cenral France. In the course of this work he became extremely popular, and in 371 he became bishop of Tours. However, he refused to live in the city and instead founded a monastery, where he lived a short distance outside the city walls.

He died at Candes, Tours, France, of natural causes, and was buried in the Cemetery of the Poor on November 11, 397.

The Feast Day of St. Martin of Tours is celebrated on November 11.

PRAYERS

PRAYER to ST. MARTIN Blessed Saint, you were born under pagan ways
but since your childhood you were chosen
to be a prince of the Church and,
as Bishop of Tours, many souls were redeemed
and liberated from the satanic forces
through your prayers, austerities and blessings.

We humbly ask for your intercession
before Our Lord Jesus Christ
because we want to be worthy
of the Holy Spirit that leads us
from darkness to light into the eternal kingdom,
forever and ever. Amen.

X X X X X 

PRAYER TO SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS

Saint Martin, you shared what you had
with the poor and needy.
You preached Christ’s word and served his people.
Help us to be generous in sharing what we have.
Saint Martin, pray for us!