I have received a lot of inspiration from our ancestors in the faith this year. Our community in the Spirit of Jesus stretches beyond our own experience, into the past and into eternity. So I dare recommend to you Martin of Tours, today — since Veterans Day is also the “saints day” of the patron saint of France and of soldiers. What’s more, Martin of Tours is one of the mentors of my beloved Celtic church with whom I have been traveling all year.
Martin was co-opted by the first French kings as their saintly champion. His intervention from heaven was credited for Frankish military victories 100s of years after he was dead. Nonsense. Martin of Tours would best be known as the patron saint of EX-soldiers.
As a teenager Martin became a Christian even though it was a risky thing to do. Being a follower of Jesus was a distinctly odd thing to do in what the Roman Empire called Gaul, at the time. It was a particularly odd thing to do in his military family. He was supposed to be like John McCain and become a soldier like his father and grandfather, so he did. But he was a Christian, first.
One day he was at the gates of the city of Amiens with his soldiers and Martin met a scantily dressed beggar. He impulsively cut his own military cloak in half and shared it with the man. That night he dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak he had given away. He heard Jesus say to the angels: “Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptized; he has clad me.” (see Matthew 25!) Here’s how El Greco painted the scene 1200 years later.
Before long Martin went out and got baptized. He was 18. He served in the military for another two years until, just before a battle in 336, he decided that his faith prohibited him from fighting. He said, “I am a soldier of Christ. I cannot fight.” He was charged with cowardice and jailed, but in response to the charge, he volunteered to go unarmed to the front of the troops. His superiors planned to take him up on the offer, but before they could, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred, and Martin was released.
He went on to become a leader in the church, but not before he went off to be a hermit in the style of the radicals of the Egyptian desert. Like them, Martin did not want to see his faith totally co-opted by the powers that be. Christianity in Gaul was quickly becoming an arm of the state, as Emperor Constantine made it an official religion of the empire and began constructing church buildings that looked just like Romans law courts.
Martin’s biographers described the life of the community he founded, which was so influential on the Celtic Church, like this:. “Many also of the brethren had, in the same manner, fashioned retreats for themselves, but most of them had formed these out of the rock of the overhanging mountain, hollowed into caves. There were altogether eighty disciples, who were being disciplined after the example of the saintly master. No one there had anything which was called his own; all things were possessed in common. It was not allowed either to buy or to sell anything, as is the custom among most monks. No art was practiced there, except that of transcribers, and even this was assigned to the brethren of younger years, while the elders spent their time in prayer. Rarely did any one of them go beyond the cell, unless when they assembled at the place of prayer. They all took their food together, after the hour of fasting was past. No one used wine, except when illness compelled them to do so. Most of them were clothed in garments of camels’ hair. Any dress approaching to softness was there deemed criminal, and this must be thought the more remarkable, because many among them were such as are deemed of noble rank.”
Apart from the camel hair, we have a lot in common with our ancestors in the faith from Gaul. I like to emulate passionate people who have imitated Jesus. Let’s keep up the good faith and good work! As a result, we can make some Spirit-inspired history of our own.
