A man who was born in about the year 316 in Pannonia (in modern-day Hungary), a soldier in the Roman army and a Christian.
He found the two rôles conflicted and, under the influence of Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, he founded a monastery in Hilary’s diocese in the year 360, the first such foundation in Gaul.
The religious house was a centre for missionary work in the local countryside, setting a new example where, previously, all Christian activity had been centred in cities and undertaken from the cathedral there. In 372, Martin was elected Bishop of Tours by popular acclaim and he continued his monastic lifestyle as a bishop, remaining in that ministry until his death on this day in the year 397.
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