St. Martin of Tours

I just finished reading a book on St. Martin of Tours by Regine Pernoud, a French historian who has written extensively on French saints and the Middle Ages.  I was very impressed with St. Martin; my only exposure to him was through church art.  He is famously depicted cutting his cloak in half and giving it to a beggar.  After his time as a soldier came to an end, he was popularly elected bishop of Tours.  The people of his diocese wanted him as their shepherd for his extraordinary sanctity.

One of the main things that really struck me about St. Martin was that simple holiness.  Pernoud makes the observation that, in the 300s, with martyrdoms so fresh in the memory of Christians, it's remarkable that St. Martin was widely known & honored.  He didn't get fed to the lions; he wasn't a hermit in the desert, battling demons (Anthony of the Desert); he didn't get exiled or take part in any dogma-defining councils (Athanasius); he wasn't a giant theological mind (Ambrose, Augustine).  He was holy, working hard in a profession--bishop--that he didn't choose or feel worthy to hold.  Had it been up to him, Martin would've lived a quiet life as a monk.

The other main thing that struck me was all the miracles that he performed.  A large portion of them seemed to come in his evangelical efforts.  He frequently traveled into rural areas to convert the pagans there... and that involved destroying their objects of worship.  To do that was brazen, to say the least.  But just as God revealed Himself to His chosen people in words and deeds, Martin followed suit.  He preached and worked wonders, giving verbal and visual evidence of the power of the Gospel.

Looking at the Catholic Church now... it's rather obvious to say that we need more St. Martins around.  Those of simple faith that enrich every person they come into contact with.  In every age, the Church needs saintly folks like that.

In this post-post conciliar era, I think we as Catholics need to rediscover our identity.  A big part of that is a rediscovery of our liturgical identity: in the words of Fr. Z, "save the liturgy, save the world."  That's not to say we have to do everything like we used to--not at all.  If anything, the Church could use some bureaucratic streamlining.  Yes, a certain amount of bureaucracy is necessary, but as Bl. John Henry Newman said, institutionalization is a more efficient destroyer of the Church than persecution.

As frustrating as these times can be, it's comforting to think that there have been many such as St. Martin.  They experienced similar difficulties; they dealt with secular opposition; they lived in a world that didn't seem to know or care about Christ.  And in spite of all that (perhaps because of it), they still lived marvelously holy lives.  Sanctity is available to all--no matter the year, no matter the age.  It's not the times that are so unique in their difficulty.  Developing virtue, conquering vice, and putting the blood, sweat, tears in?  THAT is the biggest challenge.

St. Martin, pray for us!