ST/JD/34

Martin of Tours

Gender

Male

Floruit (period)

None

Floruit date range

316 - 397

Description

Monk and bishop of Tours. He was for some time in his youth a soldier, but became convinced that his commitment to Christ prevented him from continuing to serve as a soldier. Martin became a hermit at Ligugé in Gaul. Here disciples joined him in this first monastery in the whole of Gaul, and here Martin remained as pioneer of western monasticism, until he became bishop of Tours in 372. He founded other monasteries as a means of evangelizing the countryside. His cult in France is centred on Tours, where his relics rest in a church dedicated to him. The principal source for the Life of St Martin of Tours is Sulpicius Severus, Vita S. Martini See Clare Stancliffe, St Martin and His Hagiographer: History and Miracle in Sulpicius Severus (Oxford, 1983). ODS, 350--1.