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Saint Martin Of Tours : A Roman Military Officer

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Saint Martin of Tours

Born to pagan parents; his father was a Roman military officer. Martin was raised in Pavia, Italy. Became a Christian, and became a catechumen in his early teens. Joined the Roman imperial army at age 15, serving in a ceremonial unit that acted as the emperor’s bodyguard, hardly fought. Cavalry officer, and assigned to garrison duty in Gaul.
Baptised into the Church at age 18. Trying to live his faith, he refused to let his servant wait on him. Once, while on horseback in Amiens in Gaul, he encountered a beggar. Having nothing to give but the clothes on his back, Martin cut his officer‘s cloak in half, and gave it to the beggar. Later he had a vision of Christ wearing the cloak. This incident became graphic of Martin.
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, and became a spiritual student of Saint Hilary at Poitiers, France.
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

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