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[[Image:Martin of Tours.jpg|right|thumb|St. Martin of Tours.]]Our father among the saints '''Martin of Tours''' (Latin: Martinus), was a [[bishop]] of Tours in the fourth century. He showed interest in Christianity at an early age. After service in the Roman army, he was [[baptize]]d and became a [[disciple]] of St. [[Hilary of Poitiers]] who was prominent in the trinitarian disputes with the [[Arianism|Arian]]s. He was acclaimed bishop of Tours in 371. He founded the [[monastery]] Marmoutier where he led a austere life with cave-dwelling [[cenobitic|cenobite]]s. [[Veneration]] of Martin was very popular in western Europe during the middle ages. After his death he was buried in Tours where, in time, a large [[basilica]] was built as the shrine of St. Martin of Tours. His [[hagiographer]] Sulpitius Severus, a contemporary, recorded the events in his life.
==Life==
Martin was born in 316 or 317 in Sabaria, Pannonia, in present day Hungary, into a military family. His father was a tribune in the Imperial Horse Guard and was stationed in Ticinum, Cisapline Gaul, which is modern day Pavia, Italy. He was named after the Roman god Mars. Against his parents' wishes, young Martin began attending church at the age of ten, becoming a [[catechumen]]. At the age of fifteen, and being the son of a Roman officer, he was required to join the cavalry. In the course of his duties in 334 he was stationed at Samarobriva, Gaul, modern day Amiens, France.
[[File:Saint Martin of Tours and the episode of the cloak.jpg|left|thumb|250px|St. Martin and the cloak]]
It was while in Amiens that he experienced a vision that became a memorialized event in his life. He had met at the gates of the city of Amiens a scantily dressed beggar for whom Martin cut in half his military cloak to share it with the beggar. That night he dreamed of [[Jesus]] wearing the half cloak that Martin had given away and heard Jesus telling the [[angels]]: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who was not baptized. He has clad me." Confirmed in his intent by this vision, Martin was baptized and after serving two more years left the army. He then traveled to Tours, to become a disciple of St. Hilary of Poitiers.
==External links==
*[http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=103285 St. Martin the Merciful the Bishop of Tours] ([[OCA]])
*[http://goarch.org/en/chapel/saints.asp?contentid=/2369 Saint Martin, Bishop of Tours] ([[GOARCH]])
*[http://www.roca.org/OA/33/33h.htm St. Martin of Tours] ([[ROCA]]) from ''Orthodox America'', issue 33, v. IV, no. 3, September, 1983
*[[w:Martin of Tours|''Martin of Tours'' at Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Saints]]
[[Category:French Saints]]
[[Category:Pre-Schism Western Saints]][[Category:4th-century saints]] [[ro:Martin de Tours]]
