On November 11 the Church honors St. Martin of Tours (c. 316-397), the soldier who became a monk and then a bishop, and the patron saint of France. Born around 316 at Sabaria (Szombathely) in the Roman province of Pannonia, he was the son of a Roman officer and was himself conscripted into the cavalry. The famous scene at the gate of Amiens — where Martin, still a catechumen, cut his military cloak in half with his sword to share it with a naked beggar shivering at the city gate, and where, the following night, Christ appeared to him in a vision wearing the half Martin had given — is among the most widely told stories of Christian sainthood. "Martin, still a catechumen, clothed me with this garment," Christ told him.
After baptism and discharge from the army, Martin became a disciple of Hilary of Poitiers and founded the first monastic community in Gaul at Ligugé, near Poitiers, around 361 — the oldest monastery still existing in France. In 371 he was acclaimed Bishop of Tours by the people, and as bishop he continued to live as a monk, founding the monastery of Marmoutier outside Tours. He evangelized the countryside of Gaul, tearing down pagan temples and building churches. He died at Candes on November 8, 397, and his body was carried by river to Tours, where he was buried on November 11.
The Basilica of St. Martin at Tours was built over his tomb and was one of the great medieval pilgrimage sites of France — a stop on the road to Santiago de Compostela. The original basilica was destroyed in the Revolution; the present church, rebuilt in the 19th century, preserves the site of his tomb in the crypt. His cloak — the cappa of Amiens, the half he kept — entered the Frankish royal treasury and was carried before the king into battle; the priests who tended it were called cappellani, "chaplains of the cape," the origin of the English word "chaplain." He is patron of soldiers, of France, of the poor, and of innkeepers.
