Martius

ON SAINT MARTIUS, ABBOT, AMONG THE ARVERNI IN GAUL.

FIFTH CENTURY.

Martius, Abbot, among the Arverni in Gaul (Saint)

G. H.

Jean Savaron of Clermont, in his time Councillor to the Most Christian King, Governor and Prefect of Auvergne, most noted for his outstanding learning, by which he illustrated the works of Apollinaris Sidonius and brought out the Origines Claromontanae, added to the same two little books, long ago composed, on the Saints, Churches and Monasteries of Clermont: in the second of which, chapter 16, the following is read: The church of Saint Martius: "In the church of Saint Martius, an altar of Saint Felicitas, there rests Saint Martius." On which words Savaron observes that the said Church is situated between the monastery of Rubiacum and the church of Saint Victor, at the foot of the camps of Waifer, and that it belongs to the rights of the house of Illidia: "But Saint Martius, from whom the church has its name, was Abbot of the city of Auvergne, from which he had withdrawn not far away, that he might live a holier life, and there, having passed the course of his life in the highest sanctity, was buried beneath the oratory of the monastery." his name in manuscript Martyrologies. He adds that in a manuscript Kalendar of him this is read: "On the Ides of April, Commemoration of Martius the Abbot." In the Breviary of Clermont too, and in the manuscript Martyrology, this is handed down: "On the Ides of April, in the suburb of Auvergne,

the birth of Blessed Martius the Abbot." Savaron then adds these things: "At his church the inhabitants flock in crowds by a bad custom on the 7th day before the Kalends of May (on which day is the feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist, The same wrongly held as Saint Mark, not of Saint Martius the Abbot, who is to be venerated on the Ides of April); and for Saint Martius the Abbot, they adore Saint Mark the Evangelist: an error arising from ignorance of antiquity and ambiguity of name, which can easily be removed, if through Gospel heralds the error is plucked out of the minds of men: which, that care be taken to do, I earnestly beseech," he says, "for it concerns the Catholic Church that each one be given his own worship, lest, as the old proverb says, Gaius be the same as Maevius." Thus the most wise Savaron from his zeal.

[2] The Life of Saint Martius the Abbot was written by Saint Gregory, Bishop of Tours, Life written by Saint Gregory of Tours. in the book De Vitis Patrum, chapter 14, which we here subjoin, collated with an ancient codex: and from it we gather the age of Saint Martius such that he seems to have been born in the 5th century of Christ about the year 440; and, having attained the legal age of 24 years, to have withdrawn into a cell built by himself on a stony mountain; and then to have gathered monks and founded a monastery for them, about the year 470; and at last, full of age and virtue, after 90 years of life, to have holily died about the year 530. When the day of his dissolution was near, the age of the same at his death. a boy of eleven years, Florentius by name, later the parent of Saint Gregory of Tours, was brought to him, and by the imposition of his hand he freed him from the burning of fever. Of this parent Saint Gregory was begotten about the year 540, who at thirty years of age took up the Episcopal Chair at Tours about the year 570, as shall be more accurately discussed on his natal day, November 27. Whatever is said of his age, we think that the time of the years of the life of Saint Martius cannot be placed later: if others argue that it ought to be set earlier, we do not wish to oppose.

[3] These things being set down, it is certain that Saint Martius, when he had gathered monks, presided as Abbot for several years Wrongly ascribed to the Benedictines by Trithemius, before the great Patriarch Benedict was born. Meanwhile Trithemius in the Illustrious Men of the Order of Saint Benedict, book 3, chapter 27, ascribes him with this encomium: "Martius, Abbot of Auvergne, born from the same territory, a man of outstanding faith and charity, who performed many miracles in his life, by which his sanctity was shown. For he healed Florentius, father of Gregory Bishop of Tours, while still a boy of ten years, of fevers. But also after his death many suffrages are given to the sick at his tomb. His life full of virtues the same Gregory, Bishop of Tours, described. He flourished in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 570." Thus Trithemius, assigning a year to Saint Martius conforming to his own opinion about his Benedictine profession: but, as already said, he flourished a full century earlier, when by the sign of the Cross and blessed oil he wrought miracles. Trithemius is followed by Wion, Dorganius, Menardus, and Bucelinus in their monastic Martyrologies on this April 13. and others. But more sagacious were Luke d'Achery and Jean Mabillon in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of Saint Benedict, when they cast Saint Martius the Abbot into the Index of Saints Omitted in the first Benedictine century, because he was manifestly supposititious to this Order. Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology celebrates the same with a long encomium, but drawn from the Life. Molanus in the first edition of the Auctarium to Molanus, Galesinius, and Canisius also mention him; but these call him "Martin," as also on April 7 does Ferrari in the General Catalogue.

LIFE

By Saint Gregory of Tours, in the Vitis Patrum, chapter XIV.

Martius, Abbot, among the Arverni in Gaul (Saint)

BHL Number: 5671

FROM GREGORY OF TOURS.

[1] A great benefit has divine piety bestowed on us, when it commanded that for our transgressions we should have a refuge of remission, if we pardon those who neglect us, if we indulge those who harm us, if to those who hate us we on the contrary impart the benefit of blessing, with the Lord Jesus Christ saying: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who slander and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." Matt. 5:44 Behold what great treasure the contempt of anger gathers, the reconciliation of the condemned, That it is very useful to pardon those who sin against us, the remission of the judged: it makes you a son of God the Father, enrolls you as coheir of Christ, establishes you as a dweller in the heavenly kingdoms. Whence it is manifest that his offenses are forgotten in heaven, who imparts the benefit of pardon to the offender on earth: for so the sentence pronounced by the mouth of the Lord testifies: "If," He says, "you shall forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father also will forgive your sins." Matt. 6:14 And when He teaches His suppliant servants to pray, He says: "Thus you shall say to the Father: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." Matt. 6:12

[2] Therefore Saint Martius, blessed Abbot, illustrious for sanctity, instructed in divine studies, by his example Saint Martius shows, held in his heart the good of this sentence, that he should freely forgive the offender: and not only pardoned the fault, but also bestowed the gift of grace, lest in anything he should make vile the person of the guilty one. But before we speak of his benefaction, we shall say a few things about his way of life. This most blessed Martius, Abbot of the city of Auvergne, embracing virtues from boyhood: is said to have been a native of the same territory: and from his boyhood, leading a religious life, he dedicated himself wholly to the works of God. For he was sparing in foods, liberal in alms, ready for vigils, most devout in prayers, restraining luxury with all his powers by the bridle of abstinence and the contest of frugality, that nothing might creep upon him. Not without reason was he called Martius, who bravely and strenuously, with the sword of the Holy Spirit, cut down the budding thoughts of mortal actions in the very beginning of the fight, not a deaf hearer of the exhortation: "Gird yourselves with the armor of God, and with the sword of the Holy Spirit, that you may be able to despise the fiery darts of the devil." Eph. 6:11

[3] And when he had come to the perfection of lawful age, and was shining like an outstanding star in that city, he builds a cell for himself on a stony mountain: thinking that something was still lacking to him, he withdrew not far from it: and taking up a hoe, he began to cut a stony mountain: in which, carving little cells, he made small habitations for himself—namely, that more tightly bound by the chain of sobriety, he might more easily present to almighty God the incense of prayers and the holocausts of praises upon the altar of a clean heart, recalling that the Lord had said through the Gospel: "Enter into your chamber and, with the door shut, pray to your Father: and the Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you": for he knew that the consolation of Angelic visitation would be near him, if he had removed himself farther from human gazes. Matt. 6:6 In this rock, therefore, of the hollowed mountain, he prepared the necessaries for his dwelling, forming in the cave from the very stone a bench and a little cell or bed; in which after much labor he might grant rest to his wearied little body. But these were immovable; because the masses cut from the very stone were cleaving to the rock itself. But nothing did he lay upon it when he rested; he uses a hard bed: but only with the garment with which he was clothed, he lay down; having no other coverlets, pillows, or rugs to cover them: for he had nothing of his own, except the worship of God, in which he remained unfailing. Victuals were sometimes ministered to him by the largess of the devout.

[4] At length the eternal Lord, who ever glorifies His Saints, began to declare to earthlings the heavenly merit of His servant, He works miracles with the sign of the Cross and blessed oil, or to show what kind of worshipper of His divinity he was, when He deigned to impart to him the grace of healings. For he put demons to flight by the word in the name of Jesus Christ from bodies possessed; the venom of an evil pustule he pressed down by the sign of the Cross; quartan or tertian fevers he healed by pouring in the liquor of blessed oil; and many other benefits he bestowed on the people, the Giver of all good things consenting. At the fame of so great a man certain men began to flock to him, he gathers monks: rejoicing to be instructed by his disciplines. Why say more? He gathers men, forms monks, makes them perfect for the work of God: for he had great patience, and had taken up such goodness against the darts of injuries to be borne, that you would think him fortified by a cuirass of sweetness. But the monks had a garden, filled with a great abundance of various vegetables and trees and fruits, pleasant to the sight and agreeable in fertility: under the shade of which trees, with the leaves whispering to the breath of the breeze, the blessed old man often sat.

[5] But a certain imprudent man, and without the fear of God, circumscribed by the desire of gluttony, breaking through the hedge of the garden, entered by a furtive ascent, as the Lord reproaches in the Gospel: "Because he who does not enter by the gate is a thief and a robber." John 10:1 Now it was the time of night: for these things could not be perpetrated except at night, because "everyone who does evil hates the light." He would carry off the vegetables and fruits of the garden by night, Therefore this man, having gathered vegetables, onions and garlic and apples, loaded with the bundle of his wicked fraud, proceeds to the entrance by which he had come in; but by no means finds the way out. His conscience, burdened by the load, is terrified, and amid the labors of the weights he draws deep sighs; he supports himself now and then on the columns of the trees: he goes about again and again the whole circuit of the garden, and not only does not find the door, but does not even notice the very entrance which he had opened amid the nocturnal darkness: he is tormented with double grief, lest either he be held by the monks or seized by the judge. Among these torches of thoughts the night is lengthened for him, and the beam of the desired light is not given back. But the Abbot passes the night in chanting psalms, and, as I believe, with God revealing it, recognizes what was being done. For when the sky was now whitening, he calls the Prior, saying: "Run quickly to the garden: for a butting ox has entered it: but he has not harmed anything from it. Go now, and the absent one recognizes, having laid on necessary things, dismiss him: for so it is read: 'You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox while treading out the grain.'" 1 Cor. 9:9 But the Prior, not understanding what he had said, went to fulfill the order. When the man saw him approaching, throwing on the ground what he had taken, and orders him to be dismissed most humanely. he began to flee; and he plunges his head into thorns and brambles; and after the manner of pigs he tries to open a way by which he might come out. The monk taking hold of him said: "Do not fear, son, for our elder has sent me, to lead you from this place." Then the monk, having gathered what that man had thrown down, as much apples as vegetables, laid them on his shoulders, and opening the door, dismissed him, saying: "Go in peace, and do not again seek what you have done with sloth accompanying."

[6] The Priest himself too, as the beam of true light shining in the world, constantly drove away the diseases of infirmities he frees Nivardus with imposed hand from dropsy by the efficacy of virtues. A certain Nivardus, held by a long fever, while burning he was asking for water to relieve the heat,

constantly draws water, swelled up from dropsy, so that both his belly and his stomach seemed extended in the manner of a bladder. Being therefore in despair over such an infirmity, he asked that he be carried to the Saint by the help of a cart. At last he is lifted from his bed, placed on a vehicle, and brought to the cell of the Saint, humbly beseeching that the Priest of God should lay his hands on him. But he, prostrated in prayer before the Lord, turned to the sick man, and handling his members with the softest touch, made him sound in the contemplation of the bystanders: for it is said that all the swelling fled from the possessed body before his fingers, so that no sign of the sickness remained in him any longer. These things I learned from the account of my father, because this Nivardus had been bound to him in the bond of friendship. And he asserted that he had also seen the Saint, and Saint Gregory of Tours' father from fever: and had experienced his miracles. For when he was still a boy of about eleven years, he was seized by the burning of tertian fevers. Then his friends took the boy and led him to the man of God (for he was already old, and near the day of his dissolution, and his eyes were growing dim). Laying his hand on the boy, he said: "Who is this, or whose son is he?" They answered: "He is your servant, named Florentius, son of Georgius formerly a Senator." And he said: "May the Lord God bless you, son, and deign to heal your languors." And he, kissing his hands and giving thanks, departed healed. And he asserted that never afterwards in all his life was he struck by this contagion.

[7] He dies a nonagenarian. He himself, now of ninety years of age, sweating in the good contest, having completed the course of his life, keeping faith in God, passed to that crown of justice which the Lord renders. Then, washed with highest honor, and clothed with worthy vestments, he was buried beneath the oratory of the monastery. Miracles at his tomb. And that his blessed tomb is illustrated by divine virtues, the very throng which assists there can testify: who, when it sends the sick to the tomb, forthwith sends them home whole. For when flocking together from various parts, and bringing kinds of diseases, they receive medicine there; yet especially the limbs of the shivering wavering with trembling are often restored to entire soundness; with our Lord Jesus Christ granting this, who glorifies the tombs of Saints with illustrious miracles: to Him be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.