MEMORIAL OF SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS, BISHOP AND SAINT MENNAS, MARTYR – FEAST DAY ~ NOVEMBER 11TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop and Saint Mennas, Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and all the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for all veterans and all those serving in the military, we pray for their safety and well-being. 🙏
SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS, BISHOP: St. Martin of Tours (c. 316-397 A.D.) was born to pagan parents in Savaria, Pannonia (modern day Hungary) in the year 316 AD. During his youth, his family moved to Italy. Against the wishes of his parents he discovered Christianity and associated with Christians and became a catechumen in his early teens. He joined the Roman imperial army at age 15, serving in a ceremonial unit that acted as the emperor’s bodyguard, rarely exposed to combat. Cavalry officer, and assigned to garrison duty in Gaul. Trying to live his faith, he refused to let his servant to wait on him. Once, while serving near Amiens in Gaul (modern France), on a horseback he encountered a beggar. Having nothing to give but the clothes on his back, Martin cut his heavy officer‘s cloak in half, and gave it to the beggar. Martin was later granted a vision of Christ who, clothed in the cloak he had given the beggar, encouraged him to be baptized. He was baptized into the Church at age 18. Just before a battle, Martin announced that his faith prohibited him from fighting. He was charged with cowardice, was jailed, and his superiors planned to put him in the front of the battle. However, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred, and Martin was released from military service at Worms, Germany. After his discharge from military service (356), he became a disciple and spiritual student of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, France and was ordained. On a visit to Lombardy to see his parents, Martin was robbed in the mountains – but managed to convert one of the thieves. At home he found that his mother had converted, but his father had not. The area was strongly Arian, and openly hostile to Catholics. Martin was badly abused by the heretics, at one point even by the order of an Arian bishop. Learning that the Arians had gained the upper hand in Gaul and exiled Saint Hilary, Martin fled to the island of Gallinaria (modern Isola d’Albenga). Learning that the emperor had authorized the return of Saint Hilary, Martin ran to him in 361, then became a hermit for ten years in the area now known as Ligugé. A reputation for holiness attracted other monks, and they formed what would become the Benedictine abbey of Ligugé.
When bishop of Tours, France died in 371, Martin was the immediate choice to replace him. Martin declined, citing unworthiness. Rusticus, a wealthy citizen of Tours, claimed that his wife was ill and asking for Martin; tricked by this ruse, Martin went to the city where he was declared bishop by popular acclamation, and then consecrated on July 4, 372. As bishop, he lived in a hermit‘s cell near Tours. Other monks joined him, and a new house, Marmoutier, soon formed. He rarely left his monastery or see city, but sometimes went to Trier, Germany to plead with the emperor for his city, his church, or his parishioners. He healed and performed miracles and also possessed the gift of discerning spirits. He was far advanced in age when he fell into a grievous fever during a visitation at Candes, an outlying parish of his diocese. Unceasingly, he begged God to release him from this mortal prison. His disciples, however, implored him with tears, “Father, why are you leaving us? To whom will you entrust the care of your disconsolate children?” Deeply moved, Martin turned to God: “Lord, if I am still necessary for Your people, I will not refuse the labor. Your will be done!” St. Martin died on that pastoral visit to Candes, Tours, France on November 8, 397 of natural causes. By his request, he was buried in the Cemetery of the Poor on November 11, 397. His relics rested in the basilica of Tours, a scene of pilgrimages and miracles, until 1562 when the catheral and relics were destroyed by militant Protestants. Some small fragments on his tomb were found during construction excavation in 1860. St. Martin of Tours has historically been among the most beloved saints in the history of Europe. In a 2007 Angelus address, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his hope “that all Christians may be like St Martin, generous witnesses of the Gospel of love and tireless builders of jointly responsible sharing.” He’s the Patron Saint of beggars; soldiers; against alcoholism; against impoverishment; against poverty; cavalry; equestrians; geese; horse men; horses; hotel-keepers; innkeepers; Pontifical Swiss Guards; quartermasters; reformed alcoholics; riders; tailors; vintners; wine growers; wine makers and many cities.
QUOTES OF SAINT MARTIN OF TOURS:
☆”Lord, if your people need me, I will not refuse the work. Your will be done.”
☆“In the name of the Lord Jesus and protected only by the sign of the cross, without shield or helmet, I shall penetrate the enemy’s ranks and not be afraid.”
☆“Now let me fight for God. As for your bonus, let someone who is going to join the battle receive it. I am a soldier of Christ- combat is not permitted me.”
☆”Allow me, brothers, to look toward heaven rather than at the earth, so that my spirit may set on the right course when the time comes for me to go on my journey to the Lord.”
☆”With the sign of the Cross, I shall more certainly break through the ranks of the enemy than if armed with shield and sword.”
PRAYER: Blessed Saint Martin, 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 grace and mercy of the Holy Spirit that lead us from darkness to light into the eternal kingdom, for ever and ever… Amen”🙏
God, Your Bishop St. Martin glorified You by both his life and his death. Renew in us Your grace, so that neither death nor life can separate us from Your love. Amen 🙏
SAINT MENNAS, MARTYR: St Mennas, c285 – 309, was an Egyptian Christian soldier who joined the Roman army, but left after three years during the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian to go into the desert and do penance, he became a hermit in response to Diocletian’s decrees. During the celebration of a great festival on the Emperor’s birthday, which the people celebrated with outdoor spectacles, Mennas appeared fearlessly professed his faith at the theatre at Cotyaeum and openly mocked belief in pagan gods. He was seized and led before the prefect Pyrrhus, in charge. He was cruelly scourged by Pyrrhus, put to torture, tied to the rack, his whole body was burned with torches, brushed with thorns, torn with leaden whips. He was finally beheaded and his body thrown into the fire. Christians took what remained, his body was brought to Egypt and and gave it honorable burial. The martyr was soon invoked in many needs and afllictions. His grave, close to Alexandria, became such a famous place of pilgrimage that, as at Lourdes today, a whole town arose to accommodate the pilgrims. Many small phials or eulogia have been found there which show St. Mennas between two kneeling camels. He’s the Patron Saint of Falsely accused people; peddlers; travelling merchants.
Saint Mennas, Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏