In 316 AD a Roman soldier named his son Martin, a diminutive of Mars, the name of the Roman god of war. When little Mars grew up, he was conscripted against his will into the Roman imperial guard. In the dead of winter, beneath the walls of the city of Amiens in Gaul, a frostbitten beggar asked him for alms. Martin cut his soldier’s cloak in two and gave half to the poor man. That night he saw in a dream Jesus wrapped in the half-cloak, and the cold at once relented. Martin converted to Christianity. He was born in present-day Hungary, where his father served. He disliked the army and seized the first opportunity to be discharged. Returning to Pannonia, he became an exorcist. Travelling across Europe he met Hilary, the Bishop of Tours, who granted him leave to found a monastery. After Hilary’s death Martin was offered the office of bishop. Wishing to avoid it, he hid in a room full of geese. They began to cackle and so gave away his hiding place. He became Bishop of Tours in 370. He won many Gallic tribes over to Christianity and founded a school for future priests that was the first seminary. 
The church elite of the day was not overly fond of him, because he cared for the countryside and its peasants more than they wished. The common folk, therefore, loved him. He died on 8 November 397, and three days later thousands of monks and nuns and tens of thousands of peasants and the poor accompanied him to his grave. That day, 11 November, was a great market day in the Middle Ages, when debts were settled and the last deals struck. It was also the beginning of the winter fast then customary, and so the last chance for a hearty bite. Today St. Martin’s Day is most often celebrated with goose. As if Martin were taking revenge on the geese for making him a bishop. Today St. Martin is the patron saint of France, where 3,667 churches and chapels are dedicated to him. Here in Croatia he was taken as patron by Beli Manastir, Dugo Selo, Virje and Martinci near Čepin. He is also the patron of winemakers and winegrowers and of recovering alcoholics, of the Swiss Papal Guard, of soldiers, horsemen, horse and goose breeders, of hoteliers and innkeepers. He is celebrated by Protestants in Germany as well. To this day the Church is not overly fond of him, yet among the people he is one of the most popular saints. In the rites of St. Martin’s Day the must is baptized in the name of Bacchus, the god of wine, and his son St. Martin. 
08.11.2025.
