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Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Martin of Tours

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Martin shares his cloak · France

Martin was a Roman soldier when, at the gate of Amiens on a freezing day, he cut his cloak in two and gave half to a beggar. That night he dreamed of Christ wearing the half cloak. He left the army, became a monk and in 371 bishop of Tours, a bishop who lived simply and travelled the countryside. Today his tomb lies in the crypt of the Basilica of Saint-Martin, built around 1900 on part of the site of the great medieval basilica.

Did you know?

The word 'chapel' comes from the little building where his cloak, the 'cappa', was kept.

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An inspiring story

Half a cloak

Half a cloak. That was all. And people are still talking about it, nearly 1,700 years later.

In a bitterly cold winter a beggar sat at the gate of Amiens, and everyone walked past. The young soldier Martin, not even baptised yet, had nothing left but his weapons and his cloak. So he drew his sword, cut the cloak in two and gave half away, while bystanders laughed. Why him? His biographer Sulpicius Severus writes that Martin understood: if nobody else will help this man, then he has been left to me. That night Martin dreamed of Christ, wearing the half cloak.

You don't have to give everything to make a difference. Start with the person nobody else stops for.

Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.Matthew 25:40

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