Martin of Tours

Saint Martin of Tours, (died November 11, 397) a native of Pannonia?, served in the Roman army and was stationed in Gaul, then became a monk. In 371? he became bishop of Tours?.

Legend of the Cloak While Martin was still a soldier he experienced the vision that became the most-repeated story about his life. He was at the gates of the city of Amiens? when he met a beggar. He impulsively cut his own military cloak in half and shared it with the beggar. That night he dreamed that Christ came to him and returned the half cloak Martin had shared with him - when Martin woke his cloak was restored. The miraculous cloak was preserved as a relic, and entered the relic-collection of the Merovingian kings of the Franks. The Latin word for "short cloak", cappella in Latin, was extended to the people charged with preserving the cloak of St. Martin, the cappellani or "chaplains" and from them was applied to the royal oratory that was not a regular curch, a "chapel".

Martin and monasticism in Gaul

Martin and the episcopacy