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The saints

St. Martin of Tours

The soldier who cut his cloak in half for a beggar, and dreamed of Christ wearing it.

Feast: 11 November · about 316 to 397 · The early Church · Pannonia, Amiens and Tours

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Fresco of St. Martin of Tours as a bishop in a miter, resting his chin on his hand.

Simone Martini, 1322. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Martin of Tours

The gate of Amiens, a winter night

Martin was a soldier in the Roman army, and still only preparing for baptism.1

At the gate of Amiens on a freezing night, he saw a beggar with almost no clothes.1

He cut his military cloak in half with his sword and gave the man half.

Patron of soldiers1; horses1

01St. Martin of Tours

The dream

That night he dreamed of Christ wearing the half cloak, and soon after he was baptized and left the army.1

He became a monk, and the people of Tours made him bishop against his will.1

Live it this week

Split something in half

Martin gave half his cloak. This week, split something you have with someone who needs it: half your lunch, half your free evening, half a gift card.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Martin of Tours”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.