Today is the feast of St. Martin. It is the halfway point between Michaelmas and Christmas. In the US it is also Veterans Day. It seems very fitting! This is one of my favorite feast days because it is filled with legend, mysticism, and even some humor!
Like all good Catholic lore, this one comes with a great legend.
Martin was born in 316 AD, just a few years after Christianity became legal in the Roman Empire. As his father was a military officer, Martin joined the ranks of the armed forces as well at age 15. The story goes that one day while Martin was doing his duties as a Roman Soldier, he came upon a poor beggar who was clearly cold and starving. Martin took his warm cape and cut it in half with his sword to share it with the poor beggar.
That night while he slept, Martin saw Christ clearly wearing that same piece of his cape. Martin understood that by serving the poor beggar he had really encountered Christ.
He spent the rest of his life serving others and bringing them the light and warmth of Christ in the darkness. November 11th is the feast of St. Martin and it is historically associated with festivals of light and lanterns!
From Soldier to Bishop!
Martin became a Roman-era conscientious objector. His beliefs as a Christian frequently clashed with his duties as a Roman Soldier. When he refused to fight, he was charged with cowardice. Rather than stay in jail, Martin volunteered to go to the front of the army unarmed, and his superiors were more than happy to go along with that plan. But the battle they planned never happened and Martin was allowed to just go free.
He spent his next years as a student and a hermit, hanging with his new friend St. Hilary. There are stories throughout the region of Martin making converts and living simply. He even survived a nasty bout of food poisoning by praying for a full recovery. Stories of his life and preaching made him very popular.
Legend has it that when the people wanted to make him the bishop, he strenuously objected and tried to hide from the crowd. But he made the mistake of hiding in the goose house and the cackling from these noisy birds gave the saint away. The emissaries from Tours found him and convinced him to become the new bishop. St. Martin was so annoyed that he killed one of the geese and cooked it for his dinner that day!
Another legend tells us that St. Martin accidentally met Satan on a road trip to Rome. He changed the devil into a donkey and rode him into the city. The donkey said, “Signa te signa. Temere me tangis et angis./ Roma tibi subito motibus ibit amor. (Cross thyself, you plague and vex me without need; for by my efforts you are about to reach Rome, the object of your travel.)”
Fun fact, each of the Latin sentences is a palindrome. That means they read the same forwards or backward.
Make a Lantern for Martinmas!
We made our own lanterns a few years ago.
A votive candle is fastened inside the jar with a bit of wax – and voila!
I tried something a little different a few years ago. I bought an inexpensive glass vase from Pat Catan’s. Then we found a template under St. Martin Transparency (googled it!) and transferred that to the black paper. We glued that to the globe and then used Mod Podge to put the glitter in the background for the winter effect!
Today’s peg saint! Complete with the goose that gave Martin away!
From the Rhythm of the Home Blog. 
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A more somber superstition that I have read in a number of places says that if you are at the back of the church on Martinmas Day, you will see a glowing over the heads of people in the congregation who will not be alive by next Martinmas Day.
Follow Elena LaVictoire’s board St. Martin of Tours on Pinterest.
Today is also the day to remember our beloved Veterans.
100 years ago today, hostilities ceased and World War I came to an end.
Mr. Pete’s Uncles and Father.
Would you like to know more about some of the various United States conflicts from a historical perspective? I highly recommend Michael Medved’s audion on World War I, World War II and the Revolutionary war.
Also for kids,
The story of how the poppy became associated with Veterans and soldiers.