Martin of Tours

Have you ever taken part in a lantern parade? Perhaps with the children from your kindergarten or school on a dark evening in November? You carried lanterns with candles or lights inside. Mum and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, or Aunt Gisela may have joined you too. You sang songs, such as “Lantern, lantern, sun, moon and stars ...” or “I’m walking with my lantern ...”. That must have been fun.

But why do people hold these lantern processions? Why is a man in a Roman uniform sometimes part of the procession, eventually cutting a cloak in two with a sword?

This has to do with a man who lived more than 1,600 years ago. His name: Martin of Tours.

Since this man lived a very long time ago, little is known about him today. For example, some say he was born in 317 AD, while others claim it was 20 years later. What seems certain is that he was born in a small town in what is now Hungary and was named Martinus. At the time, large parts of Europe and North Africa were ruled by the Romans. Martinus’s father was a Roman officer. It was customary for an officer’s son to become a soldier, too. So Martinus, whom we now simply call Martin, joined the Roman emperor’s bodyguard at the age of 15. A few years earlier, Emperor Constantine had converted to Christianity. Until then, people had worshipped the old Roman gods, Jupiter, Mars, Neptune and Hera. Martinus was also baptized and became a Christian. Apparently, he soon ran into trouble with military service because he took his faith seriously. He no longer wanted to fight or even kill other people. He wanted to serve God and follow the most important Christian commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.

This is also clear from an event said to have taken place in the French city of Amiens, for which Martin is still honoured today. He was still a soldier at the time. One evening, he came across a beggar who was freezing. Without hesitation, he took his sword and cut his warm cloak in two, giving one half to the beggar. Soon afterwards, he left the army. He went to Gaul, now France, to see Bishop Hilarius.

Martin settled in a place where the first Christian monastery was later established. This monastery still exists today. He led a simple life as a hermit and tried to convert the people around him to Christianity. He cared for the poor and nursed the sick. This made him well-known and especially popular among ordinary people.

In 371, the city of Tours was looking for a new bishop. Many people wanted Martin to become bishop, but he is said to have refused at first. Using a trick, they lured him from his hermitage into the city, where a large crowd had already gathered. People later said that Martin had hidden from the crowd in a stable, but the geese gave him away with their loud honking. They supposedly led him straight from the goose pen to his bishop’s throne.

As a bishop, he founded a monastery near the city of Tours, where he lived with 80 monks. Martin and the monks owned no personal possessions. They lived solely on donations and devoted themselves to prayer.

Martin is said to have impressed people above all with his humility and simple way of life. Many stories were told about him, which we now call legends. One of these legends probably contains a small kernel of truth, but much has been added over the years.

Stories about Bishop Martin spread quickly. People eventually said that he could perform miracles and had even brought a dead person back to life. According to another legend, he cut down a tree that was considered sacred by people who were not yet Christians. He is said to have healed a paralyzed girl and a person with leprosy. One day, he is said to have called a homely bird to him, given it beautiful plumage, and named it “Martin’s Fisher.” Today, we know this bird as the kingfisher.

He is said to have persuaded a cruel judge to release innocent prisoners. Time and again, people were called upon in his name to put charity into action. At some point, Martin is said to have given the sheep as an example: every year it gives its wool so people can make warm clothes from it.

Martin died around the year 400 during one of his travels. Monks carried his body back to Tours by boat along the Loire, where he was buried on November 11. A legend tells of this, too. According to the story, nature came back to life on the night before his body was brought back. As the boat passed by, a sea of white flowers is said to have lined the river. His successor as bishop had a chapel built over the grave. A large basilica was built there later. Today, pilgrims from all over the world come to Tours to visit his grave. In many countries, Martin is still revered as the protector of soldiers, travellers, the needy and prisoners, farmers and shepherds, the sick and domestic animals.

The veneration of Martin of Tours spread throughout Europe. He was soon regarded as a saint in the Catholic Church. Churches dedicated to Saint Martin were built everywhere, including St. Martin's Cathedral in Mainz. It became customary for churches and monasteries to collect the dues owed by farmers on his feast day, 11 November. These often took the form of livestock such as cattle, pigs, geese and chickens, as well as grain and wine. People celebrated the end of the harvest year on this day and tasted the new wine. Martin became a popular name for baptisms. In France, Martin is still the most common surname today. On 11 November 1483, another famous bearer of the name was baptised in Eisleben, Thuringia: Martin Luther. To this day, bonfires are lit in many places in honour of Martin, to give thanks for the harvest and ask for protection for plants and animals through the winter. Geese are often prepared as Martinmas geese. There are also parades with lanterns and lights, which children enjoy taking part in. Sometimes the lights are carried inside hollowed-out mangelwurzels or pumpkins. At some parades, a man dressed as a Roman officer rides along, representing Saint Martin and symbolically sharing his cloak. In some areas, children go from house to house with lanterns and are given pretzels, waffles, apples, pears, gingerbread and nuts.

So even today, we still do something that began more than 1,600 years ago in a goose shed.