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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Sulpicius Severus writes the Life of *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397, S00050) in c. 395, before Martin's death, presenting him as an ideal monk, even when a bishop, and as a great miracle-worker and confounder of the devil. Written in Latin at Primuliacum (south-west Gaul). Overview entry.

Evidence ID

E00692

Type of Evidence

Literary - Hagiographical - Lives of saint

Major author/Major anonymous work

Sulpicius Severus

Sulpicius Severus, Life of Martin (BHL 5610)

Summary:

Preface: In a letter to a certain Desiderius, who had repeatedly requested the work, Sulpicius Severus excuses his poor style, and asks that his book should be kept private, or at least anonymous.

Ch.1: The writing of the lives of great men is of no benefit, but an account of the life of this most saintly man (
sanctisimus vir) can provide an example of Christian life to others.

Ch.2: Martin, the son of a pagan soldier, is born in Sabaria, in Pannonia [modern Hungary], but grows up in Pavia [in northern Italy]. In his childhood he longs for the monastic life, but, as the son of a veteran, he is forced to enrol in the army; however, he continues to live such a simple and humble life that 'he could be thought of, not as a soldier, but as a monk' (
non miles sed monachus putaretur), and gives to the poor all that he can.

Ch.3: One day in the middle of winter, while still a catechumen, Martin meets a destitute beggar outside the walls of Amiens [in northern Gaul]. He cuts his military cloak (
chlamys) in half and shares it with the beggar, thereby earning the scorn of some and the admiration of others. That night Christ appears to him in a dream, wearing the beggar's half of the cloak, and praising Martin's charity. Aged about twenty, Martin is baptised, but continues in military service though only in name.

Ch. 4: At a time when the barbarians were ravaging Gaul, Martin requests dismissal from the army from the emperor Julian; but is told he does so through cowardice. Martin offers to face the barbarians the next day, unarmed and protected only by the sign of the cross. Miraculously, the enemy surrender before this happens.

Ch. 5: He joins Hilary of Poitiers, who ordains him first as a deacon and then as an exorcist. He is told in a dream to return to his parents, in order to tend to their spiritual lives (they are still pagan). On the way he is captured in the Alps by robbers, but succeeds in converting one of them, who later follows the religious life (and is the source of the story).

Ch. 6: He successfully confronts the devil close to Milan, and also succeeds in converting his mother. Shortly afterwards becomes involved in the struggle against Arians. He sets up a monastery in Milan, but when forced to leave the city by the Arian bishop, Auxentius, lives as an ascetic on the island of Gallinara [off Albenga on the Ligurian coast], on one occasion saving himself through prayer alone from poisoning.

Ch. 7: Returning to Poitiers, to be near Hilary, Martin establishes a monastery near the city [at Ligugé]. There he restores to life a catechumen who had died during a brief absence of the saint (and who is the source for this story): see E00791.

Ch. 8: He also restores to life a slave who had hanged himself.

Ch. 9: Though very reluctant to leave his monastery, Martin is chosen as bishop of Tours, despite the opposition of a number of bishops who considered him 'unsightly in his appearance, dirty in his clothing and foul in his hair' (
vultu despicabilem, veste sordidum, crine deformem).

Ch. 10: As a bishop he continues to live as a monk. Finding his cell in the city too often disturbed, he founds a monastery on the Loire some two miles from the city [at Marmoutiers], where he can retreat to lead an ascetic life of prayer with some eighty followers, including men of high birth. Many of his followers progress to be bishops themselves.

Ch. 11: He discovers that a shrine to martyrs near Tours was actually the grave of a brigand, and has it destroyed: see E00100.

Ch. 12: Encountering some pagan rustics carrying a body to burial, he miraculously stops them in their tracks, but then allows them to proceed.

Ch. 13: Martin destroys a pagan temple in the countryside, and begins to chop down a tree beside it dedicated to a demon. The pagans agree to complete the work if Martin will place himself where it is sure to fall, which he agrees to do. The tree miraculously falls the other way, and many of the pagans convert.

Ch. 14: Burning down another temple, he miraculously saves a neighbouring house threatened by the flames. Angels help him destroy a further temple that the rustics had sought to defend. Many convert.

Ch. 15: While destroying a temple, he offers his neck to a man who wishes to kill him; the man falls to the ground and asks for pardon. The knife of another man who attacks him as he destroys idols miraculously disappears. Often, just by persuasion he is able to convince the pagans to destroy their own temples.

Ch. 16: He cures many who are sick. At Trier, importuned by her father, he cures a girl who is completely paralysed after pouring blessed oil into her mouth.

Ch. 17: Martin successfully exorcises the slave of Tetridius, a man of proconsular rank, and thereby achieves the latter's conversion. He exorcises another demon, placing his fingers in the mouth of the possessed man and daring the demon to bite them.

Ch. 18: He confounds some demons who are spreading false rumours of an impending barbarian attack. At Paris he cures a leper, with a kiss and a blessing. 'Nor should I fail to note how many miracles were effected among the sick by threads pulled from his clothes and hair-shirt. For, tied around fingers or hung from the neck, they often expelled diseases from the sick.' (
Nec praetereundum est quod fimbriae vestimento eius cilicioque detractae crebras super infirmitantibus egere virtutes. Nam digitis inligatae aut collo inditae persaepe ab aegrotantibus morbos fugaverunt.)

Ch. 19: Arborius, a man of prefectural rank, places a letter from Martin on the breast of his sick daughter and she is cured; he dedicates the girl to a life of religious virginity. He cures the diseased eye of Paulinus [of Nola], and, when he himself is badly injured by falling down some stairs, in the night an angel appears to him, washes his wounds, and he is cured. It would be tedious to list all his miracles; let these examples suffice.

Ch. 20: In the presence of the emperor [Magnus] Maximus, Martin, unlike other bishops, retains apostolic authority (
apostolica auctoritas), demanding what he needs, rather than entreating; he initially declines all invitations to dine with Maximus, and, when he finally accepts, on being given the cup to drink from before all others, he next passes it to his presbyter, rather than to the emperor, an act which greatly impresses everyone. He correctly predicts that if Maximus invades Italy, he will at first succeed but then be killed.

Ch. 21: He frequently saw and spoke with angels and often perceived the devil, even when deeply disguised. On one occasion, he learns from a diabolical visitation that one of the monastery's peasants has been gored by an ox. Indeed he was often able to know things before others knew of them.

Ch. 22: The devil sometimes appeared to Martin in the form of one of the pagan gods. On one occasion he debates with the devil over whether brothers who had sinned could be readmitted, Martin arguing that true repentance, and a better life thereafter, could wipe away sin.

Ch. 23: Martin had a particularly excellent follower, a noble young man named Clarus (who is now with the blessed in heaven) [*Clarus, disciple of Martin of Tours, S00479]. Clarus was joined by another young man, Anatolius, who started to claim that he was in contact with God through the visitation of angels. Others believed this, but Clarus was never persuaded. When Anatolius claimed to have received a white robe from heaven, the falsehood was exposed by Martin as another trick of the devil.

Ch. 24: A false Christ appears in Spain and even persuades one bishop to believe in him, and a false John the Baptist appears 'in the east' (
in oriente); these are signs that the coming of Antichrist is at hand. The devil appears to Martin in his cell, sumptuously dressed and claiming to be Christ. When Martin refuses to believe that Christ would appear in this way and asks him to appear as he was at the Passion, the devil disappears in a puff of smoke leaving a terrible stench behind. Lest anyone doubt this story, Sulpicius Severus [our author] learned it from Martin himself.

Ch. 25: Sulpicius Severus then describes how he travelled to meet with Martin, and there learned from him and from his followers what is recounted in this book. Martin, although unlearned, spoke with great wisdom, in particular holding up Paulinus [of Nola] as an example to follow, a rich man who had sold everything and given it to the poor.

Ch. 26: Although he has to some extent been able to recount Martin's outward deeds, Sulpicius Severus regrets his inability to do justice to his inner life of asceticism and constant prayer.

Ch. 27: Martin was always serenely calm, never speaking evil, even of those who reviled him, a few of whom were indeed bishops. Sulpicius Severus notes that he too is hated by Martin's detractors, but puts his faith in the fact that he has written the truth and out of his love of Christ.


Text: Fontaine 1967-9.
Summary: Bryan Ward-Perkins.

Rejection, Condemnation, Sceptisism

Uncertainty/scepticism/rejection of a saint
Destruction/desecration of saint's shrine

Non Liturgical Activity

Composing and translating saint-related texts
Visiting/veneration of living saint

Miracles

Miracle during lifetime
Power over elements (fire, earthquakes, floods, weather)
Miracles causing conversion
Power over life and death
Healing diseases and disabilities
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Exorcism
Other miracles with demons and demonic creatures
Miracles experienced by the saint
Miracle with animals and plants
Other miracles with demons and demonic creatures
Revelation of hidden knowledge (past, present and future)

Relics

Contact relic - saint’s possession and clothes
Handwriting of a saint
Contact relic - oil

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Women
Pagans
Heretics
Monarchs and their family
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Foreigners (including Barbarians)
Soldiers
Peasants
The socially marginal (beggars, prostitutes, thieves)

Source

Sulpicius Severus was a well-educated aristocrat who, after a career in the law, converted to the ascetic life under the influence of Martin, founding a monastic community on his estate of Primuliacum in Aquitania. He was a friend and close associate of Paulinus of Nola, from whose letters most of our knowledge of Sulpicius' life derives.

Sulpicius began collecting material for his
Life of Martin in the early 390s, in 393/394 visiting Tours to learn more from the saint himself and from his close associates. The work was completed no earlier than 395, but before Martin's death in November 397 (for the date, see Stancliffe 1983, 71) it is therefore very unusual as a saint's life, being written and apparently diffused before the death of its subject. In the Life, as well as in three Letters (E00635, E00691, E00693) and in the Dialogues (E00845), all written after Martin's death, Sulpicius presents his hero as a perfect monk and bishop, and a great miracle-worker. He argues that there is no contradiction between being a good bishop and a monk, and even that only a monk makes a good bishop. This was a novel and controversial idea, since the Gallic episcopacy was generally reluctant to accept ascetic monasticism.

[Sulpicius also wrote a
Chronicle which describes in detail the doctrinal disputes of the fourth century and includes an account of Martin's involvement in the debates around Priscillian; but it does not add to the image of Martin as a saint.]


Discussion

Three other figures, Hilary of Poitiers (in chaps. 5 & 7), Paulinus of Nola (chaps. 19 & 25), and Clarus, Martin's disciple (chap. 23), feature in this text as very holy men. All three attracted cult in Late Antiquity Sulpicius Severus' text is, however, focused on Martin, so none of the three is explicitly presented here as having the powers of a saint.


Bibliography

Edition, French translation and commentary:
Fontaine, J., Sulpice Sévère,Vie de saint Martin. 3 vols. (Sources Chrétiennes 133-135; Paris: Cerf, 1967-1969).

English translations:
Burton, P., Sulpicius Severus' Vita Martini (Oxford: OUP, 2017), with Latin text and commentary.

Hoare, F.R.,
The Western Fathers, being the Lives of SS. Martin of Tours, Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo, Honoratus of Arles and Germanus of Auxerre (London: Sheed and Ward, 1954), 10-44.

Roberts, A.,
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Second Series, vol. 11 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894).

Further reading:
Stancliffe, C., Saint Martin and his Hagiographer: Miracle and History in Sulpicius Severus (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983).

Vogüé, A. de,
Histoire littéraire du mouvement monastique dans l'antiquité. Vol. 4 (Paris: Cerf, 1997), 19-91.


Record Created By

Robert Wiśniewski

Date of Entry

03/09/2015

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00050Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397MartinusCertain
S00183Hilarius/Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, ob. 367HilariusCertain
S00479Clarus, disciple of Martin of Tours, ob. c. 397ClarusCertain
S01321Paulinus, bishop of Nola, ob. 431PaulinusCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Robert Wiśniewski, Cult of Saints, E00692 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00692