Life of St. Martin of Tours

St. Martin of Tours

Sulpicius Severus, who wrote the work The Life of St. Martin of Tours, wrote the life story of St. Martin out of his great admiration for the man. In his preface he says to the one who urged him to write the story that he feared his skill with language would not be good enough for such an important task. He finally wrote the work because in his words, "because I thought it disgraceful that the excellences of so great a man should remain concealed." Sulpicius saw St. Martin's life as one others should try to emulate, and for that to happen, people would have to know something about how St. Martin had lived.

Martin was drawn to Christianity when he was 10 and immediately began studying his new religion. Following Christ's example, he gave all he could to those who needed it more, keeping back only what he needed to survive himself. Sulpicius tells of one bitterly cold day when Martin saw a man with no coat, freezing from the cold. But all Martin had was his own cloak. Using his sword, he divided his cloak in two and gave half to the shivering man. Sulpicius uses this story of an example of how Martin showed others how to truly help those in need, for others who had walked by the man had done nothing although they could have given him much more than Martin was able to give.

It was after this incident that Sulcipius reports Martin's first vision, which came to him as he was sleeping. He saw Christ wearing the half-cloak Martin had given to the stranger, and then heard Christ tell angels surrounding the scene that it was He, Christ, who had been the poor man at the gate, and that Martin had given half his cloak to Jesus himself. It was after this vision that Martin was baptized. Sulcipius reports that Martin did not take pride in giving his cloak to Jesus but remembered His words, least of these, ye have done them unto me." (Chapter III)

While Sulcipius is clearly moved by this story, it also demonstrates the difficulty the writer faces while recounting Martin's many great deeds, because many of them occurred out of the sight of others. It seems unlikely that Sulcipius simply believed every person who claimed to have a vision of Christ. Rather, Sulcipius looked at the man and saw great piety, and saw a life lived in a way that would have pleased Christ, and believed the accounts he heard from others of Martin's many miracles.

Nevertheless, some of Sulcipius' claims of Martin's miracles would not stand scrutiny as possible miracles today. In Chapter IV, the author tells of an incident when Martin attempted to leave the Roman army, having decided to devote his life to God. Julius Caesar himself attempted to pay Martin the night before the army was to go into battle. Martin told the general that he wanted to leave the army and serve God and that Caesar should pay someone who would fight for him. Caesar accused him of cowardice, saying that he was hiding behind religious motives because he was afraid to go into battle. Martin then proposed to go into battle the next day without pay or any armor or weapons, stating that his God would protect him.The next day, the army they were to fight surrendered before the battle, giving up not only all their soldiers but all their possessions as well. Sulcipius presents this as God's way of protecting Martin. If no battle occurred, then Martin did not have to prove his motivations in such a dangerous way, and says, "In these circumstances who can doubt that this victory was due to the saintly man?"

Although Martin was undoubtedly a very pious man, Sulcipius was quick to interpret events in miraculous terms. In Chapter VI, Sulcipius reports an incident while Martin was traveling, A man representing the devil warns him that wherever Martin goes, the devil will "resist him." This does not dissuade Martin. But is this incident a miracle? Is the man truly Satan disguised as a man simply because he said that the devil would oppose someone trying to do God's work?