b. Saint Martin of Tours_antoniodapadova 19/04/2010 09:16 Page 1
Saint martin Martin of Tours
CTS Children’s Books
Contents The “Little Mars” ....................................3
Bishop of Tours ......................................16
Martin’s wish ............................................4
The monastery at Marmoutier ................18
In the army ..............................................6
Martin and Avitanus ................................20
The poor man and the cloak ..................8
Let’s play! ................................................22
A dream for Martin ................................10 The “soldier of Christ” ..........................12
An image of St Martin..............................23
A new life ................................................14
A prayer ....................................................24
Text by Silvia Vecchini with contributions from Giuseppa Amico Illustrations by Antonio Vincenti Translated by Simone Finaldi
Saint Martin of Tours: Published 2010 by the Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 40-46 Harleyford Road, London SE11 5AY. Tel: 020 7640 0042; Fax: 020 7640 0046; www.cts-online.org.uk. Copyright © 2010 The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society in this English-language edition. ISBN: 978 1 86082 677 1 CTS Code CH 29 Translated from the original Italian Edition: San Martino di Tours - ISBN 978-88-6124-039-1, published by Il Pozzo di Giacobbe, Corso Vittorio Emanuele 32/34, 91100 Trapani (TP), Italy © 2007 Crispino di Girolamo.
THE “LITTLE MARS”
artin’s story is one of the most popular tales of the saints of the Middle Ages. Martin was born in Pannonia, (today’s Hungary),
around 336 in a city called Sabaria. His father was in the Roman army and gave him the name Martin, which in Latin means “Little Mars”, in
honour of the god of war. His father was promoted to the rank of tribune and the family moved to Pavia in Italy where his father had been rewarded with a farm. 3
MARTIN’S WISH
ven though Martin’s parents were pagans, he began to want to know and understand Christianity. His father, who wanted a
career in the army for his son, was not happy about Martin’s wish. Martin however, knew what he wanted and before he was ten years old, he tried to enter a church. It is said that the child, in order to escape his father’s command to enter the army, ran away from home. When he left, he met a
family who looked after him. Thanks to them, he not only learnt the Gospel but saw how Christians lived and this stayed in his heart.
Then, taking the advice of his friends, Martin returned home. 4
His father welcomed him back, thinking that the flight was little more then a tantrum and that it would pass, as Martin would soon grow up and join the army like he did. Martin’s father was helped by an imperial law that said that sons had to take the same profession as their father. So, at the age of fifteen, Martin became a soldier.
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IN THE ARMY
oung and strong, Martin grew, becoming a trustworthy soldier very much liked by others.
Soon, even though he lived more like a monk than a soldier, he was
promoted. Now he had a beautiful gray white horse, metal armour and a helmet with a crest, he carried both a sword and a lance, and a woolen cloak was given him, to guard against the cold on long marches. Martin was also assigned a servant, but he treated him more like a brother, just as Jesus would have wanted.
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It seemed that for Martin, the life his father had always wanted for him, had now begun. He had a successful career in the army, was respected by others, fought in battles and was given important tasks that needed courage and strength. But Martin still wanted something else. A new adventure was about to begin for him. His wish to become a Christian had not gone away and a very special meeting was just around the corner.
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THE POOR MAN AND THE CLOAK
artin fought for three years in the imperial guard, during this time he was sent to Gaul, first to Rheims, then to Amiens.
One winter day, while he was returning to the city with the other
officers, he noticed a poor beggar shivering with the cold. Martin was struck by this poor man dressed in a few rags, begging in the road and frozen by cold northern winds. So, while the others passed without paying any attention to the man, Martin, stopped his horse and taking his sword, cut his woolen cloak in half. He gave half of it to the man who immediately thanked Martin and covered himself with it, amazed that an officer had done such a good deed. The others, seeing Martin with only half his cloak, began to make fun of him, but he answered them that he had followed his heart and could not have done anything else.
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A DREAM FOR MARTIN
hat same night, while Martin slept, something extraordinary happened. Martin had a very
meaningful dream, a dream that changed his life, and gave him the courage to take a new path. Jesus appeared in Martin’s dream, wearing the half of the cloak he had given to the poor man. Jesus was surrounded by a host of angels, and said to him: “Martin, who is not baptised, already serves me and has covered me with this cloak.” The meaning of the dream was very important, when Martin gave his cloak to the poor man, he had served Jesus! Just as is written in the Gospel when Jesus says, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a
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stranger and you made me welcome; I was naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me. I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to any of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.” Some say that when Martin woke, his cloak was whole again as though he had never divided it.
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