on Saint Martin's Day in The Netherlands.
Nederland: Sunte-Marten/Sint-Maarten/St. Martins' Day (NL).
This File: 4 November 2006.
(Wikimedia Commons)
In the first three Centuries, the Saints were mostly Martyrs. Saint Martin is the first Bishop and Confessor honoured by The Church in The West. As Durand de Mende remarks, The Liturgy gives him a Rank equal to The Apostles, for he was the principal Apostle of Gaul.
His Feast Day was everywhere of obligation. Taking place often during "Saint Martin's Summer", that is at the end of Autumn, it rivalled in importance and popular rejoicings The Feast of Saint John. It had an Octave, like the Feast of Saint Laurence, for Saint Martin, "Priest of Priests" (The Response at Matins), occupied among Confessors the Rank of Saint Laurence among Martyrs.
Saint Martin, born at Savaria, in Pannonia, came to Gaul as a soldier. While still a Catechumen, he one day, near Amiens, gave part of his cloak to a poor man who asked him for alms in the name of Christ. During the following night, Jesus appeared to him clothed in this half of his cloak and said to him: "Martin, a simple Catechumen, covered Me with this garment."
Abbey of Marmoutiers, France.
Founded by Saint Martin of Tours.
At the age of eighteen, he was Baptised, and, having become a Disciple of Saint Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, he built, two leagues from the Episcopal City, in the desert of Ligugé, a Monastery, whither he retired with a few Disciples. He thus was the Founder of Monastic Life in Gaul.
But God would not allow this Light to remain hidden under the bushel (Gospel). Saint Martin had to leave his solitude and was made Bishop of Tours (Introit, Epistle, Gradual). He then Founded the famous Abbey of Marmoutiers, or Martin's Monastery, where he often retired. There, he had around him eighty Monks who imitated the Lives of The Hermits of Thebaid.
He lived more than eighty years, devoting himself to The Glory of God and The Salvation of Souls. He died at Candes, near Tours, France, in 397 A.D. His tomb became famous through many Miracles, and attracted crowds from all parts of the Country.
Saint Gregory, Bishop of Tours in the 6th-Century, does not hesitate to call The Holy Worker of Miracles the special Patron of the whole World. Few Saints have been so popular, In France, alone, there are about 4,000 Parish Churches Dedicated to Saint Martin and 485 Market-Towns or Villages that still bear his name.
Rome has a Church of Saint Sylvester and Saint Martin, where The Station is held on The Thursday of The Fourth Week in Lent. Saint Martin's Cope used to be borne at the head of the Army in Times of War and, on it, were sworn Solemn Oaths in Times of Peace.
Mass: Státuit ei Dóminus.
Commemoration: Saint Mennas.