Reflections
“Increase our faith.”When his soldier-father was stationed in Italy, St. Martin learned about Christianity and was swiftly attracted to it and became a catechumen. At the age of 15, being a son of a vete- ran soldier, he was obliged to render military service. It was at this time that a famous incident involving him happened. One winter day, as he was on his way to a town, he noticed near the gate a beggar without any pro- tection from the cold begging alms. Since he had nothing with him, he took his sword and divi- ded his winter cloak into two; he used one piece to wrap around the shivering beggar. That night he saw in a dream Jesus, sur- rounded by angels, wearing half of his cloak and heard him said, “Martin, while even a catechu- men, gave me half of his cloak”. This paved the way for his con- version. He lived an austere life of a hermit and later was named, by popular acclamation, bishop of Tours in France. Many miracles were attributed to him and he was known for his piety, coura- geous preaching, and training of priests. He died on November 8 with eyes and hands raised to heaven, and was buried on this day in the year 400.
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