St. Martin of Tours: Life, Prayer and Feast Day, November 11

St. Martin of Tours (c. 316–397) was a Roman soldier who cut his military cloak in two to clothe a freezing beggar, saw Christ wearing it in a dream, and went on to become a monk and the bishop of Tours. He is one of the best-loved saints of Europe, a patron of soldiers and of the poor, and one of the first saints honored in the West who did not die as a martyr. His feast is November 11, which in 2026 falls on a Wednesday. Below are his life, told largely in the words of his friend and biographer Sulpicius Severus, prayers to St. Martin, and the traditions of St. Martin’s Day.

Who was St. Martin of Tours?

Born a pagan, around 316 (some historians prefer 336) at Sabaria in Pannonia, today Szombathely in Hungary, and raised at Ticinum (Pavia) in Italy. His father was a Roman officer who rose to be a military tribune.
A catechumen at ten. Against his parents’ wishes he went to the church and asked to be enrolled for instruction in the faith.
A soldier at fifteen. Under an edict that sons of veterans must serve, his own father had him seized and he was enrolled in the imperial guard. Sulpicius says he lived “not so much as being a soldier as a monk,” treating his servant as an equal and even cleaning his boots.
The cloak at Amiens. One bitter winter he shared his cloak with a beggar at the city gate, and Christ appeared to him that night. Soon afterwards he was baptized.
“I am the soldier of Christ.” Before a battle near Worms he asked the future emperor Julian for his discharge, and offered to stand unarmed in front of the line to prove it was not cowardice.
Monk. He became a disciple of St. Hilary of Poitiers and around 361 founded a community at Ligugé, the first known monastery in Gaul.
Bishop of Tours (371). The people of Tours lured him out of his monastery with the story of a sick woman and acclaimed him bishop against the protests of some bishops, who found him shabby and unkempt. He kept living as a monk, founding the monastery of Marmoutier outside the city, where some eighty disciples lived in poverty and prayer.
Apostle of the countryside. He traveled through rural Gaul preaching, healing and pulling down pagan shrines. He also pleaded with the emperor not to put the heretic Priscillian to death, holding that the Church should not shed blood over heresy.
Death. He died at Candes on November 8, 397, and was buried at Tours on November 11, the day that became his feast.

The cloak at Amiens

This is the scene painted on church walls and windows all over Europe. Sulpicius Severus, who knew Martin personally, tells it this way:

At a certain period, when Martin had nothing except his arms and his simple military dress, in the middle of winter, a winter which had shown itself more severe than ordinary, so that the extreme cold was proving fatal to many, he happened to meet at the gate of the city of Amiens a poor man destitute of clothing. He was entreating those that passed by to have compassion upon him, but all passed the wretched man without notice, when Martin, that man full of God, recognized that a being to whom others showed no pity, was, in that respect, left to him. Yet, what should he do? He had nothing except the cloak in which he was clad, for he had already parted with the rest of his garments for similar purposes. Taking, therefore, his sword with which he was girt, he divided his cloak into two equal parts, and gave one part to the poor man, while he again clothed himself with the remainder. Upon this, some of the by-standers laughed, because he was now an unsightly object, and stood out as but partly dressed. Many, however, who were of sounder understanding, groaned deeply because they themselves had done nothing similar. They especially felt this, because, being possessed of more than Martin, they could have clothed the poor man without reducing themselves to nakedness. In the following night, when Martin had resigned himself to sleep, he had a vision of Christ arrayed in that part of his cloak with which he had clothed the poor man. He contemplated the Lord with the greatest attention, and was told to own as his the robe which he had given. Ere long, he heard Jesus saying with a clear voice to the multitude of angels standing round—“Martin, who is still but a catechumen, clothed me with this robe.” The Lord, truly mindful of his own words (who had said when on earth, “Inasmuch as ye have done these things to one of the least of these, ye have done them unto me”), declared that he himself had been clothed in that poor man; and to confirm the testimony he bore to so good a deed, he condescended to show him himself in that very dress which the poor man had received.

The words Jesus speaks echo the Gospel: “as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). Martin’s half-cloak, his cappa, was later kept as a treasured relic by the Frankish kings, and the shrine where it was kept was called the cappella. Its guardians were the cappellani. That is where the words chapel and chaplain come from.

“I am the soldier of Christ”

When Julian was handing out a bonus to the troops before a battle, Martin refused his share and asked to be released. Sulpicius records his words:

Hitherto I have served you as a soldier: allow me now to become a soldier to God: let the man who is to serve thee receive thy donative: I am the soldier of Christ: it is not lawful for me to fight.

Julian accused him of cowardice. Martin answered that he would stand unarmed before the enemy line the next morning, protected only by the sign of the cross. He was put in custody, but the next day the enemy sued for peace and there was no battle. For this reason Martin is honored both by soldiers and by those who refuse to bear arms for the sake of conscience.

Prayers to St. Martin of Tours

The Collect for St. Martin’s Day

The prayer of his feast in the traditional Roman Missal:

O God, who seest that we live not by our own power, graciously grant that, through the intercession of thy blessed Confessor, Martin, we may be protected from all adversity. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God world without end. Amen.

The Alleluia verse of the same Mass imagines his entrance into heaven:

The blessed man Saint Martin, Bishop of the city of Tours, went to his repose: whom the Angels and Archangels, the Thrones, Dominations, and Virtues received.

A prayer to St. Martin for a generous heart

Written for this page:

Saint Martin of Tours, you saw Christ in a man freezing at the city gate
and gave him half of all you had.
Pray for me, that I may not pass by those whom others ignore.
Teach me to share what I have, even when it costs me,
and to recognize the Lord in the poor, the cold and the forgotten.
Saint Martin, soldier of Christ, pray for us. Amen.

St. Martin’s prayer at the hour of death

As Martin lay dying, his disciples begged him not to leave them. Sulpicius writes that he wept, and turned to the Lord with these words, a prayer for anyone tired out in God’s service:

O Lord, if I am still necessary to thy people, I do not shrink from toil: thy will be done.

For veterans and those who serve today, see the Veterans Day prayer, which includes a prayer to St. Martin for soldiers.

What is St. Martin of Tours the patron saint of?

Soldiers and veterans, as a soldier who became a “soldier of Christ” (with St. Sebastian, St. Joan of Arc and St. Michael).
The poor and beggars, because of the cloak.
France, where thousands of churches and many towns and villages bear his name.
Traditionally also horsemen, tailors (because of the cloak) and winemakers and innkeepers, since his feast fell at the time of the new wine.

See the full list of patron saints.

St. Martin’s Day (Martinmas)

November 11 was one of the great feasts of the medieval calendar, and many of its customs survive:

Lantern processions. In Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland, children walk through the streets with paper lanterns on the evening of St. Martin’s Day, singing songs to St. Martin, often behind a rider dressed as Martin on horseback.
Martinmas goose. A roast goose is the traditional dinner. A popular legend says Martin hid in a goose pen to avoid being made bishop and the cackling geese gave him away.
St. Martin’s Lent. In parts of medieval Europe a fast of about forty days began after St. Martin’s Day and led up to Christmas, an ancestor of Advent.
St. Martin’s summer. A spell of mild weather in November is still called a “St. Martin’s summer” in several languages.
Armistice Day. The armistice that ended the First World War took effect on St. Martin’s Day, November 11, 1918, which is why Veterans Day and Remembrance Day fall on his feast.

A simple way to keep the day as a family: do one of the works of mercy, such as giving warm clothing to a shelter, and pray the prayer to St. Martin above.

Frequently asked questions

When is the feast of St. Martin of Tours?

November 11. It is an obligatory memorial in the Roman calendar. In 2026 it falls on Wednesday, November 11.

Why did St. Martin cut his cloak in half?

He met a poor man without clothing at the gate of Amiens in a severe winter. He had already given away his other garments, so he divided his soldier’s cloak with his sword and gave half to the man. That night Christ appeared to him wearing it.

Was St. Martin a soldier?

Yes. He served in the Roman army from the age of fifteen and was still a soldier when he shared his cloak. After his baptism he asked to leave the army, saying, “I am the soldier of Christ: it is not lawful for me to fight.”

Is St. Martin of Tours the same as St. Martin de Porres?

No. St. Martin of Tours was a fourth-century bishop in France. St. Martin de Porres was a Dominican brother in Lima, Peru, who died in 1639; his feast is November 3.

Who wrote the life of St. Martin?

Sulpicius Severus, a Gallic lawyer and writer who visited Martin and wrote his Life while Martin was still alive, adding letters and dialogues after his death. It became one of the most widely read saints’ lives of the Middle Ages.

More saints and prayers

Texts and sources

Sulpicius Severus, Life of St. Martin, chapters 2–4, 9–10, and Letter III (to Bassula), translated by Alexander Roberts, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 11 (1894), public domain (Wikisource).
Collect and Alleluia verse: The Mass Every Day of the Year (1916 daily missal), November 11, public domain (archive.org).
Matthew 25:40 (Douay-Rheims).