Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
Saint Martin of Tours was one of the best-known saints of the 4th century, venerated even before his death and was the first non-martyr to have an annual celebration.
He remained one of the most popular saints during the Middle Ages and was especially venerated by the early Franciscans because his life was like Saint Francis'.
Both had military experience in their youth.
Both had a conversion experience involving an act of charity to a poor person.
Each one kissed a leper.
Each embraced a life of prayer, poverty, and penance.
Each had a great desire for the contemplative life, but went out on preaching tours for the salvation of his neighbors.
Saint Martin was born early in the 4th century, most say around the year 316, in a Roman colony called Siberia, in a region then known as Pannonia, today it's in western Hungary.
Christianity had recently become legal, and his parents were still pagans.
His father was an official in the Roman army, and the name he gave his son, Martin, comes from Mars, the god of war.
His son would indeed be strong in war, but in spiritual warfare.
Martin was strongly attracted to the Christian faith from his childhood, and became a catechumen at 10, overcoming his parents' objections.
A couple of years later he already wanted to become a monk or a hermit, but he was too young.
Saint Martin's life took a different direction, very much against his will.
When he was 15, an imperial edict ordered the sons of veterans enrolled in the army, and his father turned him over to the authorities, not just in obedience to the edict, but also in the hope that some military experience would get those silly ideas out of his son's head.
He was given a slave in order to take care of his needs, but he chose to serve the slave instead.
Wanting to remain faithful to Christ, Martin did not indulge in any of the vices that were common among soldiers.
He served in the cavalry of the imperial guard, in a special contingent that could be sent wherever the emperor needed it.
One cold winter day, while he was serving in Gaul, he saw a half-naked beggar shivering at the gate of Amiens.
He cut his military cloak in half and gave the part he had cut off to the beggar.
That night in a dream he saw Christ wearing that part.
He was showing it to his angels and saying to them, Martin, still a catechumen, has covered me with this cloak.
Clearly he meant it when he said, Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.
Martin did not wait any longer to receive baptism.
In 356 he left the army and went to find St. Hilary of Poitiers, from whom he sought guidance on how to serve Christ.
St. Hilary wanted to ordain him a deacon, but he didn't want a position that would bring him honor.
He did accept the minor order of exorcist, and he came to be feared by the demons.
But soon the holy bishop was sent into exile for opposing the Arian heretics, and St. Martin began traveling.
He went first to Pannonia to bring the faith to his parents, and succeeded in converting his mother by the end of 357.
Then he worked to oppose the Arians in Illyricum, a region which corresponds to the Balkans.
After that he passed over to Italy and to Milan and built a monastery for himself.
But the bishop was one of the leading Arians and persecuted Martin.
So he went down to Liguria and lived as a hermit there, with a holy priest on the isle of Gallinara off the coast of Albenga.
There news reached him that the emperor had changed his mind and allowed St. Hilary to return from exile.
This was in 360 or 361.
So he left his island solitude returning to Poitiers to be guided once more by the holy bishop.
He was ordained a deacon and then a priest, and built a monastery seven miles outside the city.
Others joined him there.
This was the first known monastery north of the Alps.
The monks prayed and studied sacred scripture, but around the monastery the countryside was still pagan.
In fact, the word pagan comes from the Latin word pagus, which means a country district.
Because the pagan religion was the religion typical of the country districts after the cities had become Christian.
So St. Martin traveled around the countryside telling people about Jesus.
This would be the main apostolate of his life.
He was very effective because his ministry was blessed with miracles.
One of his disciples in the monastery was a catechumen.
One day while Martin was away for three days, this man fell sick and died without baptism.
So Martin returned to find his disciple being laid out for burial.
He shut himself in the room with the corpse and began praying.
After two hours the man came back to life.
He was quickly baptized and lived for many years thereafter.
St. Martin's reputation for holiness received a tremendous boost from this.
Not long after that he raised another man from the dead, a young slave who had committed suicide.
Ten years after Martin founded the monastery in 371, the people of Tours needed a new bishop.
Many thought that the miracle working preacher was just the right man for the job, but he didn't want it.
He didn't want the honor and responsibility of being bishop.
So a man lured him out of his monastery under a false pretense, and a crowd led him to Tours almost under guard.
When he reached that city, the great majority of the people wanted him as their bishop.
But there was also some resistance, and it included some of the bishops who had come to the city to consecrate whoever would be the new bishop.
Bishops had an important position in society, they were almost imperial functionaries.
And St. Martin was shabbily dressed and had unkempt hair, he didn't look the part.
But sounder judgment prevailed.
What's most important in a bishop is not his looks, but his holiness.
When he was made bishop, St. Martin did not cease living as a monk.
He built a monastery two miles outside of town, on the other side of the Loire River.
The monastic community there grew to about 80 men.
Here too he worked to bring Christ to the people living in the surrounding country districts, and miracles accompanied his work.
Once he tried to get a pine tree cut down because it was dedicated to a demon, and so part of pagan cult.
After arguing with the pagan priests and the villagers over this, they agreed that they would cut down the tree if only he would stand where it would fall.
If the saint was telling the truth, they said his God would protect him.
And the pagans were willing to lose the tree, if only they could rid the land of this enemy of their religion.
Since the tree was leaning in one direction, there was no doubt as to which way it would fall, and the bishop was placed there and bound so that he couldn't cheat by running away.
When the tree began falling on him, St. Martin made the sign of the cross towards it, and immediately it crashed in the opposite direction as if hit by a mighty wind.
All the pagans who saw this miracle immediately became Christians.
The biography written before his death relates many other miracles.
On many occasions, pagans and demons who tried to harm him proved powerless.
He was not overawed by any authority, not even that of the emperor.
If the emperor called himself a Christian, he had to act like one, and St. Martin would insist on that.
St. Martin worked for peace between enemies and defended the rights of the poor.
For example, he defended those imprisoned by Count Avicianus for not paying their taxes.
The count had a terrible temper and wanted to execute them, but St. Martin obtained their release.
In a quarter century of Episcopate, his preaching and miracles brought great numbers of pagans to faith in Christ.
He replaced the pagan temples with churches or monasteries in order to help people grow in faith after their conversion.
He died on November 8th and was buried November 11th, 397, after accomplishing one last mission of peace, this man who had been named after the God of War.
His war had not been after flesh and blood, but after the powers of hell and sin.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.