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Martin of Tours: He opposed the Arianism of the Imperial Court.When Hilary was forced into exile from Pictavium (now Poitiers), Martin returned to Italy.According to Sulpicius Severus, he converted an Alpine brigand on the way, and confronted the Devil himself.

Martin of Tours: Having heard in a dream a summons to revisit his home, Martin crossed the Alps, and from Milan went over to Pannonia.There he converted his mother and some other persons; his father he could not win.While in Illyricum he took sides against the Arians with so much zeal that he was publicly scourged and forced to leave.

Martin of Tours: Returning from Illyria, he was confronted by the Arian archbishop of Milan Auxentius, who expelled him from the city.According to the early sources, Martin decided to seek shelter on the island then called Gallinaria, now Isola d'Albenga, in the Ligurian Sea, where he lived the solitary life of a hermit.Not entirely alone, since the chronicles indicate that he would have been in the company of a "priest, a man of great virtues", and for a period with Hilary of Poitiers; on this island, where the wild hens lived.

Martin of Tours: Martin lived on a diet of herbs and wild roots.It is alleged he ate hellebore, a plant that he did not know was poisonous.A legend tells that being on the verge of death for having eaten this herb, he prayed and was miraculously cured.

Martin of Tours: With the return of Hilary to his see in 361, Martin joined him and established a hermitage nearby, which soon attracted converts and followers.The crypt under the parish church (not the current Abbey Chapel) reveals traces of a Roman villa, probably part of the bath complex, which had been abandoned before Martin established himself there.This site was developed into the Benedictine Ligugé Abbey, the oldest monastery known in Europe.

Martin of Tours: It became a centre for the evangelisation of the country districts.He travelled and preached through western Gaul: "The memory of these apostolic journeyings survives to our day in the numerous local legends of which Martin is the hero and which indicate roughly the routes that he followed."In AD 371 Martin was acclaimed bishop of Tours, where he impressed the city with his demeanour.

Martin of Tours: He had been drawn to Tours by a ruse — he was urged to come to minister to someone sick — and was brought to the church, where he reluctantly allowed himself to be consecrated bishop.According to one version, he was so unwilling to be made bishop that he hid in a barn full of geese, but their cackling at his intrusion gave him away to the crowd; that may account for complaints by a few that his appearance was too disheveled to be commensurate with a bishopric, but the critics were hugely outnumbered.As bishop, Martin set to enthusiastically ordering the destruction of pagan temples, altars and sculptures: "[W]hen in a certain village he had demolished a very ancient temple, and had set about cutting down a pine-tree, which stood close to the temple, the chief priest of that place, and a crowd of other heathens began to oppose him; and these people, though, under the influence of the Lord, they had been quiet while the temple was being overthrown, could not patiently allow the tree to be cut down".

Martin of Tours: Sulpicius affirms that Martin withdrew from the city to live in Marmoutier ("Majus Monasterium"), the monastery he founded, which faces Tours from the opposite shore of the Loire.Recent excavations under the abbey church have revealed the traces of a Roman posting station, beside the main Roman road along the north bank of the Loire, which seems to have been the original dwelling for the community; the "caves" on the site are post-Roman and are probably the result of quarrying the coteau for the Romanesque abbey buildings."Here Martin and some of the monks who followed him built cells of wood; others lived in caves dug out of the rock" (Sulpicius Severus).

Martin of Tours: Martin introduced a rudimentary parish system.Once a year the bishop visited each of his parishes, traveling on foot, or by donkey or boat.He continued to set up monastic communities, and extended the bounds of his episcopate from Touraine to such distant points as Chartres, Paris, Autun, and Vienne.

Martin of Tours: In one instance, the pagans agreed to fell their sacred fir tree, if Martin would stand directly in its path.He did so, and it miraculously missed him.Sulpicius, a classically educated aristocrat, related this anecdote with dramatic details, as a set piece.

Martin of Tours: Sulpicius could not have failed to know the incident the Roman poet Horace recalls in several "Odes", of his narrow escape from a falling tree.Martin was so dedicated to the freeing of prisoners that when authorities, even emperors, heard he was coming, they refused to see him because they knew he would request mercy for someone and they would be unable to refuse.The churches of other parts of Gaul and in Spain were being disturbed by the Priscillianists, an ascetic sect, named after its leader, Priscillian.

Martin of Tours: The First Council of Saragossa had forbidden several of Priscillian's practices (albeit without mentioning Priscillian by name), but Priscillian was elected bishop of Avila shortly thereafter.Ithacius of Ossonoba appealed to the emperor Gratian, who issued a rescript against Priscillian and his followers.After failing to obtain the support of Ambrose of Milan and Pope Damasus I, Priscillian appealed to Magnus Maximus, who had usurped the throne from Gratian.

Martin of Tours: Although greatly opposed to the Priscillianists, Martin traveled to the Imperial court of Trier to remove them from the secular jurisdiction of the emperor.With Ambrose, Martin rejected Bishop Ithacius's principle of putting heretics to death—as well as the intrusion of the emperor into such matters.He prevailed upon the emperor to spare the life of the heretic Priscillian.

Martin of Tours: At first, Maximus acceded to his entreaty, but, when Martin had departed, yielded to Ithacius and ordered Priscillian and his followers to be beheaded (385).Martin then pleaded for a cessation of the persecution of Priscillian's followers in Spain.Deeply grieved, Martin refused to communicate with Ithacius, until pressured by the Emperor.

Martin of Tours: Martin died in Candes-Saint-Martin, Gaul (central France) in 397.The Abbey of Marmoutier was a monastery just outside today's city of Tours in Indre-et-Loire, France established by Martin around 372.Martin founded the monastery to escape attention and live life as a monastic.

Martin of Tours: The Abbey at Tours was one of the most prominent and influential establishments in medieval France.Charlemagne awarded the position of Abbot to his friend and adviser Alcuin.At this time the abbot could travel between Tours and the court at Trier in Germany and always stay overnight at one of his own properties.

Martin of Tours: It was at Tours that Alcuin's scriptorium (a room in monasteries devoted to the copying of manuscripts by monastic scribes) developed Caroline minuscule, the clear round hand that made manuscripts far more legible.In later times the abbey was destroyed by fire on several occasions and ransacked by Norman Vikings in 853 and in 903.It burned again in 994, and was rebuilt by Hervé de Buzançais, treasurer of Saint Martin, an effort that took 20 years to complete.

Martin of Tours: Expanded to accommodate the crowds of pilgrims and to attract them, the shrine of St. Martin of Tours became a major stopping-point on pilgrimages.In 1453 the remains of Saint Martin were transferred to a magnificent new reliquary donated by Charles VII of France and Agnes Sorel.During the French Wars of Religion, the basilica was sacked by the Protestant Huguenots in 1562.

Martin of Tours: It was disestablished during the French Revolution.It was deconsecrated, used as a stable, then utterly demolished.Its dressed stones were sold in 1802 after two streets were built across the site, to ensure the abbey would not be reconstructed.

Martin of Tours: While Martin was a soldier in the Roman army and stationed in Gaul (modern-day France), he experienced a vision, which became the most-repeated story about his life.One day as he was approaching the gates of the city of Amiens, he met a scantily clad beggar.He impulsively cut his military cloak in half to share with the man.

Martin of Tours: That night, Martin dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak he had given away.He heard Jesus say to the angels: "Martin, who is still but a catechumen, clothed me with this robe."(Sulpicius, ch 2).

Martin of Tours: In another version, when Martin woke, he found his cloak restored to wholeness.The dream confirmed Martin in his piety, and he was baptised at the age of 18.The part kept by himself became the famous relic preserved in the oratory of the Merovingian kings of the Franks at the Marmoutier Abbey near Tours.

Martin of Tours: During the Middle Ages, the supposed relic of St. Martin's miraculous cloak, ("cappa Sancti Martini") was carried by the king even into battle, and used as a holy relic upon which oaths were sworn.The cloak is first attested in the royal treasury in 679, when it was conserved at the "palatium" of Luzarches, a royal villa that was later ceded to the monks of Saint-Denis by Charlemagne, in 798/99.The priest who cared for the cloak in its reliquary was called a "cappellanu", and ultimately all priests who served the military were called "cappellani".

Martin of Tours: The French translation is "chapelains", from which the English word "chaplain" is derived.A similar linguistic development took place for the term referring to the small temporary churches built for the relic.People called them a "capella", the word for a little cloak.

Martin of Tours: Eventually, such small churches lost their association with the cloak, and all small churches began to be referred to as "chapels".The early life of Martin was written by Sulpicius Severus, who knew him personally.It expresses the immediacy the 4th-century Christian felt with the Devil in all his disguises, and has many accounts of miracles.

Martin of Tours: Some follow familiar conventions— casting out devils, raising the paralytic and the dead.Others are more unusual: turning back the flames from a house while Martin was burning down the Roman temple it adjoined; deflecting the path of a felled sacred pine; the healing power of a letter written from Martin.The veneration of Martin was widely popular in the Middle Ages, above all in the region between the Loire and the Marne, where Le Roy Ladurie and Zysberg noted the densest accretion of place names commemorating Martin.

Martin of Tours: Venantius Fortunatus had earlier declared, "Wherever Christ is known, Martin is honored."When Bishop Perpetuus took office at Tours in 461, the little chapel over Martin's grave, built in the previous century by Martin's immediate successor, Bricius, was no longer sufficient for the crowd of pilgrims it was already drawing.Perpetuus built a larger basilica, 38 m long and 18 m wide, with 120 columns.

Martin of Tours: Martin's body was taken from the simple chapel at his hermitage at Candes-St-Martin to Tours and his sarcophagus was reburied behind the high altar of the new basilica.A large block of marble above the tomb, the gift of bishop Euphronius of Autun (472-475), rendered it visible to the faithful gathered behind the high altar.Werner Jacobsen suggests it may also have been visible to pilgrims encamped in the atrium of the basilica.

Martin of Tours: Contrary to the usual arrangement, the atrium was situated behind the church, close to the tomb in the apse, which may have been visible through a "fenestrella" in the apse wall.St. Martin's popularity can be partially attributed to his adoption by successive royal houses of France.Clovis, King of the Salian Franks, one of many warring tribes in sixth-century France, promised his Christian wife Clotilda that he would be baptised if he was victorious over the Alemanni.

Martin of Tours: He credited the intervention of St Martin with his success, and with several following triumphs, including the defeat of Alaric II.The popular devotion to St Martin continued to be closely identified with the Merovingian monarchy: in the early seventh century Dagobert I commissioned the goldsmith Saint Eligius to make a work in gold and gems for the tomb-shrine.The bishop Gregory of Tours wrote and distributed an influential "Life" filled with miraculous events of St. Martin's career.

Martin of Tours: Martin's "cultus" survived the passage of power to the Merovingians' successors, the Carolingian dynasty.In 1860 excavations by Leo Dupont (1797–1876) established the dimensions of the former abbey and recovered some fragments of architecture.The tomb of St. Martin was rediscovered on December 14, 1860, which aided in the nineteenth-century revival of the popular devotion to St. Martin.

Martin of Tours: After the radical Paris Commune of 1871, there was a resurgence of conservative Catholic piety, and the church decided to build a basilica to St. Martin.They selected Victor Laloux as architect.He eschewed Gothic for a mix of Romanesque and Byzantine, sometimes defined as neo-Byzantine.

Martin of Tours: The new Basilique Saint-Martin was erected on a portion of its former site, which was purchased from the owners.Started in 1886, the church was consecrated 4 July 1925.Martin's renewed popularity in France was related to his promotion as a military saint during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871.

Martin of Tours: During the military and political crisis of the Franco-Prussian war, Napoleon III's Second Empire collapsed.After the surrender of Napoleon to the Prussians after the Battle of Sedan in September 1870, a provisional government of national defense was established, and France's Third Republic was proclaimed.Paris was evacuated due to the advancing enemy and for a brief time, Tours (September–December 1870) became the effective capital of France.

Martin of Tours: St Martin was promoted by the clerical right as the protector of the nation against the German threat.Conservatives associated the dramatic collapse of Napoleon III's regime as a sign of divine retribution on the irreligious emperor.Priests interpreted it as punishment for a nation led astray due to years of anti-clericalism.

Martin of Tours: They preached repentance and a return to religion for political stability.The ruined towers of the old royal basilica of St. Martin at Tours came to symbolize the decline of traditional Catholic France.With the government's relocation to Tours during the Franco-Prussian War, 1870, numerous pilgrims were attracted to St. Martin's tomb.

Martin of Tours: It was covered by a temporary chapel built by archbishop Guibert.The popular devotion to St. Martin was also associated with the nationalistic devotion to the Sacred Heart.The flag of Sacre-Coeur, borne by Ultramontane Catholic Pontifical Zouaves who fought at Patay, had been placed overnight in St. Martin's tomb before being taken into battle on October 9, 1870.

Martin of Tours: The banner read "Heart of Jesus Save France" and on the reverse side Carmelite nuns of Tours embroidered "Saint Martin Protect France".As the French army was victorious in Patay, many among the faithful took the victory to be the result of divine favor.Popular hymns of the 1870s developed the theme of national protection under the cover of Martin's cloak, the "first flag of France".During the nineteenth-century Frenchmen, influenced by secularism, agnosticism, and anti-clericalism, deserted the church in great numbers.

Martin of Tours: As Martin was a man's saint, the devotion to him was an exception to this trend.For men serving in the military, Martin of Tours was presented by the Catholic Right as the masculine model of principled behavior.He was a brave fighter, knew his obligation to the poor, shared his goods, performed his required military service, followed legitimate orders, and respected secular authority.

Martin of Tours: During the 1870s, the procession to St. Martin's tomb at Tours became a display of ecclesiastical and military cooperation.Army officers in full uniform acted as military escorts, symbolically protecting the clergy and clearing the path for them.Anti-clerics viewed the staging of public religious processions as a violation of civic space.

Martin of Tours: In 1878, M. Rivière, the provisional mayor of Tours, with anticlerical support banned the November procession in honor of St. Martin.President Patrice de Mac-Mahon was succeeded by the Republican Jules Grévy, who created a new national anticlerical offensive.Bishop Louis-Édouard-François-Desiré Pie of Poitiers united conservatives and devised a massive demonstration for the November 1879 procession.

Martin of Tours: Pie's ultimate hope was that St Martin would stop the “chariot” of modern society, and lead to the creation of a France where the religious and secular sectors merged.The struggle between the two men was reflective of that between conservatives and anti-clerics over the church's power in the army.From 1874, military chaplains were allowed in the army in times of peace, but anti-clerics viewed the chaplains as sinister monarchists and counter-revolutionaries.

Martin of Tours: Conservatives responded by creating the short-lived Legion de Saint Maurice in 1878 and the society, Notre Dame de Soldats, to provide unpaid voluntary chaplains with financial support.The legislature passed the anticlerical Duvaux Bill of 1880, which reduced the number of chaplains in the French army.Anticlerical legislators wanted commanders, not chaplains, to provide troops with moral support and to supervise their formation in the established faith of "patriotic Republicanism."

Martin of Tours: St. Martin has long been associated with France's royal heritage.Monsignor René François Renou (Archbishop of Tours, 1896–1913) worked to associate St. Martin as a specifically "republican" patron.Renou had served as a chaplain to the 88e Régiment des mobils d'Indre-et-Loire during the Franco-Prussian war and was known as the "army bishop."

Martin of Tours: Renou was a strong supporter of St. Martin and believed that the national destiny of France and all its victories were attributed to him.He linked the military to the cloak of St. Martin, which was the "first flag of France" to the French tricolor, "the symbol of the union of the old and new."This flag symbolism connected the devotion to St. Martin with the Third Republic.

Martin of Tours: But, the tensions of the Dreyfus Affair renewed anti-clericalism in France and drove a wedge between the Church and the Republic.By 1905, the influence of Rene Waldeck-Rousseau and Emile Combes, combined with deteriorating relations with the Vatican, led to the separation of church and state.St. Martin's popularity was renewed during the First World War.

Martin of Tours: Anticlericalism declined, and priests served in the French forces as chaplains.More than 5,000 of them died in the war.In 1916, Assumptionists organized a national pilgrimage to Tours that attracted people from all of France.

Martin of Tours: The devotion to St. Martin was amplified in the dioceses of France, where special prayers were offered to the patron saint.When the armistice was signed on Saint Martin's Day, 11 November 1918, the French people saw it was a sign of his intercession in the affairs of France.He is the patron saint of beggars (because of his sharing his cloak), wool-weavers and tailors (also because of his cloak), he is also the patron saint of the US Army Quartermaster Corps even though he detested violence (also because of sharing his cloak), geese (some say because they gave his hiding place away when he tried to avoid being chosen as bishop, others because their migration coincides with his feast), vintners and innkeepers (because his feast falls just after the late grape harvest), and France.

Martin of Tours: Beyond his patronage of the French Third Republic, Saint Martin more recently has also been described in terms of "a spiritual bridge across Europe" due to his "international" background, being a native of Pannonia who spent his adult life in Gaul.Martin is most generally portrayed on horseback dividing his cloak with the beggar.His emblem in English art is often that of a goose, whose annual migration is about late Autumn.

Martin of Tours: The Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht has a relic in its collection which is called "the hammer of St. Martin of Tours" (Latin: "maleus beati Martini").It was made in the 13th or 14th century from a late Bronze Age stone axe from ca.1,000 - 700 BC, though the dating is uncertain.

Martin of Tours: The grip contains a Latin text saying ""Ydola vanurunt Martini cesa securi nemo deos credat qui sic fuerant ruicuri"" ("the pagan statues fall down, hit by St. Martin's axe.Let nobody believe that those are gods, who so easily fall down").Legend says that the axe belonged to St. Martin, and was used to hit the devil and to destroy the heathen temples and statues.

Martin of Tours: By the early 9th century, respect for Saint Martin was well-established in Ireland.His monastery at Marmoûtiers became the training ground for many Celtic missions and missionaries.Some believe that St. Patrick was his nephew and that Patrick was one of many Celtic notables who lived for a time at Marmoûtiers.

Martin of Tours: St. Ninian definitely studied at Marmoûtiers and was profoundly influenced by Martin, carrying a deep love and respect for his teacher and his methods back to Scotland.Ninian was in the process of building a church when news reached him of Martin's death.Ninian dedicated that church to Martin.

Martin of Tours: The Book of Armagh contains three distinct groups of material: (1) a complete text of the New Testament, (2) a dossier of materials on Saint Patrick, and (3) almost the complete body of writings on Saint Martin by Sulpicius Severus.In Jonas of Bobbio's "Vita Columbani", Jonas relates that Saint Columbanus, while travelling, requested to be allowed to pray at the tomb of St Martin.The Irish palimpsest sacramentary from the mid-7th century contains the text of a mass for St Martin.

Martin of Tours: In the "Life of Columba", Adamnan mentions in passing that St Martin was commemorated during Mass at Iona.In his "Ireland and Her Neighbours in the Seventh Century", Michael Richter attributes this to the mission of Palladius seen within the wider context of the mission of Germanus of Auxerre to Britain around 429.Thus, this could be the context in which the Life of St Martin was brought from Gaul to Ireland at an early date, and could explain how Columbanus was familiar with it before he ever left Ireland.

Martin of Tours: Founded by Martin of Tours in 360, Ligugé Abbey is one of the earliest monastic foundations in France.The reputation of the founder attracted a large number of disciples to the new monastery; the disciples initially living in locaciacum or small huts, this name later evolved to Ligugé.Its reputation was soon eclipsed by Martin's later foundation at Marmoutier.

Martin of Tours: As of 2013, the Benedictine community at Ligugé numbered twenty-five.From the late 4th century to the late Middle Ages, much of Western Europe, including Great Britain, engaged in a period of fasting beginning on the day after St. Martin's Day, November 11.This fast period lasted 40 days, and was, therefore, called "Quadragesima Sancti Martini", which means in Latin "the forty days of St.

Martin of Tours: Martin."At St. Martin's eve and on the feast day, people ate and drank very heartily for a last time before they started to fast.This fasting time was later called "Advent" by the Church and was considered a time for spiritual preparation for Christmas.

Martin of Tours: On St. Martin's Day, children in Flanders, the southern and north-western parts of the Netherlands, and the Catholic areas of Germany and Austria still participate in paper lantern processions.Often, a man dressed as St. Martin rides on a horse in front of the procession.The children sing songs about St. Martin and about their lanterns.

Martin of Tours: The food traditionally eaten on the day is goose, a rich bird.According to legend, Martin was reluctant to become bishop, which is why he hid in a stable filled with geese.The noise made by the geese betrayed his location to the people who were looking for him.

Martin of Tours: In the east part of the Belgian province of East-Flanders (Aalst) and the west part of West Flanders (Ypres), traditionally children receive presents from St. Martin on November 11, instead of from Saint Nicholas on December 6 or Santa Claus on December 25.They also have lantern processions, for which children make lanterns out of beets.In recent years, the lantern processions have become widespread as a popular ritual, even in Protestant areas of Germany and the Netherlands.

Martin of Tours: Most Protestant churches no longer officially recognize Saints.In Portugal, where the saint's day is celebrated across the country, it is common for families and friends to gather around the fire in reunions called "magustos," where they typically eat roasted chestnuts and drink wine, "jeropiga" (drink made of grape must and firewater) and "aguapé" (a sort of weak and watered-down wine).According to the most widespread variation of the cloak story, Saint Martin cut off half of his cloak in order to offer it to a beggar and along the way, he gave the remaining part to a second beggar.

Martin of Tours: As he faced a long ride in a freezing weather, the dark clouds cleared away and the sun shone so intensely that the frost melted away.Such weather was rare for early November, so was credited to God's intervention.The phenomenon of a sunny break to the chilly weather on Saint Martin's Day (11 November) is called "Verão de São Martinho" (Saint Martin's Summer, "veranillo de san Martín" in Spanish) in honor of the cloak legend.

Martin of Tours: Many churches are named after Saint Martin of Tours.St Martin-in-the-fields, at Trafalgar Square in the centre of London, has a history appropriately associated with Martin's renunciation of war; Dick Sheppard, founder of the Peace Pledge Union, was Vicar 1914–26, and there is a memorial chapel for him, with a plaque for Vera Brittain, also a noted Anglican pacifist; the steps of the church are often used for peace vigils.Saint Martin's Cathedral, in Ypres, Belgium, is dedicated to him.

Martin of Tours: St. Martin is the patron saint of Szombathely, Hungary, with a church dedicated to him, and also the patron saint of Buenos Aires.In the Netherlands, he is the patron of the cathedral and city of Utrecht.He is the patron of the city of Groningen; its Martini tower and Martinikerk (Groningen) (Martin's Church) were named for him.

Martin of Tours: He is also the patron of the church and town of Bocaue.St. Martin's Church in Kaiserslautern, Germany is a major city landmark.It is located in the heart of the city's downtown in St. Martin's Square, and is surrounded by a number of restaurants and shops.

Martin of Tours: The church was originally built as a Franciscan monastery in the 14th century and has a number of unique architectural features.St. Martin is the patron saint of the Polish towns of Bydgoszcz and Opatów.His day is celebrated with a procession and festivities in the city of Poznań, where the main street ("Święty Marcin") is named for him, after a 13th-century church in his honor.

Martin of Tours: A special type of crescent cake "(rogal świętomarciński)" is baked for the occasion.As November 11 is also Polish Independence Day, it is a public holiday.In Latin America, St. Martin has a strong popular following and is frequently referred to as San Martín Caballero, in reference to his common depiction on horseback.

Martin of Tours: Mexican folklore believes him to be a particularly helpful saint toward business owners.San Martín de Loba is the name of a municipality in the Bolívar Department of Colombia.Saint Martin, as San Martín de Loba, is the patron saint of Vasquez, a small village in Colombia.

Martin of Tours: In Finland, the town and municipality Marttila ("S:t Mårtens" in Swedish) is named after St. Martin and depicts him on their coat of arms.Though no mention of St. Martin's connection with viticulture is made by Gregory of Tours or other early hagiographers, he is now credited with a prominent role in spreading wine-making throughout the Touraine region and the planting of many vines.The Greek myth that Aristaeus first discovered the concept of pruning the vines, after watching a goat eat some of the foliage, has been adopted for Martin.

Martin of Tours: He is also credited with introducing the Chenin blanc grape varietal, from which most of the white wine of western Touraine and Anjou is made.Martin Luther was named after St. Martin, as he was baptised on November 11 (St. Martin's Day), 1483.Many older Lutheran congregations are named after St. Martin, which is unusual (for Lutherans) because he is a saint who does not appear in the Bible.

Martin of Tours: (Lutherans regularly name congregations after the evangelists and other saints who appear in the Bible but are hesitant to name congregations after post-Biblical saints.)Martin of Tours is the patron saint of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, which has a medal in his name.The Church Lads' and Church Girls' Brigade, a 5-7 age group, was renamed 'Martins' in his honour in 1998.

Martin of Tours: Many schools have St Martin as their Patron, one being St. Martin's School (Rosettenville) in Johannesburg.The Dutch film "Flesh and Blood" (1985) prominently features a statue of Saint Martin.A mercenary in Renaissance Italy, named Martin, finds a statue of Saint Martin cutting his cloak and takes it as a sign to desert and rogue around under the saint's protection.

Meaning of life: Meaning of life The meaning of life, or the answer to the question: "What is the meaning of life?", pertains to the significance of living or existence in general.

Meaning of life: Many other related questions include: "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", or "What is the purpose of existence?"

Meaning of life: There have been many proposed answers to these questions from many different cultural and ideological backgrounds.The search for life's meaning has produced much philosophical, scientific, theological, and metaphysical speculation throughout history.Different people and cultures believe different things for the answer to this question.

Meaning of life: The meaning of life as we perceive it is derived from philosophical and religious contemplation of, and scientific inquiries about existence, social ties, consciousness, and happiness.Many other issues are also involved, such as symbolic meaning, ontology, value, purpose, ethics, good and evil, free will, the existence of one or multiple gods, conceptions of God, the soul, and the afterlife.Scientific contributions focus primarily on describing related empirical facts about the universe, exploring the context and parameters concerning the "how" of life.

Meaning of life: Science also studies and can provide recommendations for the pursuit of well-being and a related conception of morality.An alternative, humanistic approach poses the question, "What is the meaning of "my" life?"Questions about the meaning of life have been expressed in a broad variety of ways, including the following: These questions have resulted in a wide range of competing answers and arguments, from scientific theories, to philosophical, theological, and spiritual explanations.

Meaning of life: Many members of the scientific community and philosophy of science communities think that science can provide the relevant context, and set of parameters necessary for dealing with topics related to the meaning of life.In their view, science can offer a wide range of insights on topics ranging from the science of happiness to death anxiety.Scientific inquiry facilitates this through nomological investigation into various aspects of life and reality, such as the Big Bang, the origin of life, and evolution, and by studying the objective factors which correlate with the subjective experience of meaning and happiness.

Meaning of life: Researchers in positive psychology study empirical factors that lead to life satisfaction, full engagement in activities, making a fuller contribution by utilizing one's personal strengths, and meaning based on investing in something larger than the self.Large-data studies of flow experiences have consistently suggested that humans experience meaning and fulfillment when mastering challenging tasks and that the experience comes from the way tasks are approached and performed rather than the particular choice of task.For example, flow experiences can be obtained by prisoners in concentration camps with minimal facilities, and occur only slightly more often in billionaires.

Meaning of life: A classic example is of two workers on an apparently boring production line in a factory.One treats the work as a tedious chore while the other turns it into a game to see how fast she can make each unit and achieves flow in the process.Neuroscience describes reward, pleasure, and motivation in terms of neurotransmitter activity, especially in the limbic system and the ventral tegmental area in particular.

Meaning of life: If one believes that the meaning of life is to maximize pleasure and to ease general life, then this allows normative predictions about how to act to achieve this.Likewise, some ethical naturalists advocate a science of morality—the empirical pursuit of flourishing for all conscious creatures.Experimental philosophy and neuroethics research collects data about human ethical decisions in controlled scenarios such as trolley problems.

Meaning of life: It has shown that many types of ethical judgment are universal across cultures, suggesting that they may be innate, whilst others are culture-specific.The findings show actual human ethical reasoning to be at odds with most logical philosophical theories, for example consistently showing distinctions between action by cause and action by omission which would be absent from utility-based theories.Cognitive science has theorized about differences between conservative and liberal ethics and how they may be based on different metaphors from family life such as strong fathers vs nurturing mother models.

Meaning of life: Neurotheology is a controversial field which tries to find neural correlates and mechanisms of religious experience.Some researchers have suggested that the human brain has innate mechanisms for such experiences and that living without using them for their evolved purposes may be a cause of imbalance.Studies have reported conflicting results on correlating happiness with religious belief and it is difficult to find unbiased meta-analyses.

Meaning of life: Sociology examines value at a social level using theoretical constructs such as value theory, norms, anomie, etc.One value system suggested by social psychologists, broadly called Terror Management Theory, states that human meaning is derived from a fundamental fear of death, and values are selected when they allow us to escape the mental reminder of death.Alongside this, there are a number of theories about the way in which humans evaluate the positive and negative aspects of their existence and thus the value and meaning they place on their lives.

Meaning of life: For example, depressive realism posits an exaggerated positivity in all except those experiencing depressive disorders who see life as it truly is, and David Benatar theorises that more weight is generally given to positive experiences, providing bias towards an over-optimistic view of life.Emerging research shows that meaning in life predicts better physical health outcomes.Greater meaning has been associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, reduced risk of heart attack among individuals with coronary heart disease, reduced risk of stroke, and increased longevity in both American and Japanese samples.

Meaning of life: In 2014, the British National Health Service began recommending a five-step plan for mental well-being based on meaningful lives, whose steps are: (1) Connect with community and family; (2) Physical exercise; (3) Lifelong learning; (4) Giving to others; (5) Mindfulness of the world around you.The exact mechanisms of abiogenesis are unknown: notable hypotheses include the RNA world hypothesis (RNA-based replicators) and the iron-sulfur world hypothesis (metabolism without genetics).The process by which different lifeforms have developed throughout history via genetic mutation and natural selection is explained by evolution.

Meaning of life: At the end of the 20th century, based upon insight gleaned from the gene-centered view of evolution, biologists George C. Williams, Richard Dawkins, and David Haig, among others, concluded that if there is a primary function to life, it is the replication of DNA and the survival of one's genes.This view has not achieved universal agreement; Jeremy Griffith is a notable exception, maintaining that the meaning of life is to be integrative.Responding to an interview question from Richard Dawkins about "what it is all for", James Watson stated "I don't think we're "for" anything.

Meaning of life: We're just the products of evolution."Though scientists have intensively studied life on Earth, defining life in unequivocal terms is still a challenge.Physically, one may say that life "feeds on negative entropy" which refers to the process by which living entities decrease their internal entropy at the expense of some form of energy taken in from the environment.

Meaning of life: Biologists generally agree that lifeforms are self-organizing systems which regulate their internal environments as to maintain this organized state, metabolism serves to provide energy, and reproduction causes life to continue over a span of multiple generations.Typically, organisms are responsive to stimuli and genetic information changes from generation to generation, resulting in adaptation through evolution; this optimizes the chances of survival for the individual organism and its descendants respectively.Non-cellular replicating agents, notably viruses, are generally not considered to be organisms because they are incapable of independent reproduction or metabolism.

Meaning of life: This classification is problematic, though, since some parasites and endosymbionts are also incapable of independent life.Astrobiology studies the possibility of different forms of life on other worlds, including replicating structures made from materials other than DNA.Though the Big Bang theory was met with much skepticism when first introduced, it has become well-supported by several independent observations.

Meaning of life: However, current physics can only describe the early universe from 10−43 seconds after the Big Bang (where zero time corresponds to infinite temperature); a theory of quantum gravity would be required to understand events before that time.Nevertheless, many physicists have speculated about what would have preceded this limit, and how the universe came into being.For example, one interpretation is that the Big Bang occurred coincidentally, and when considering the anthropic principle, it is sometimes interpreted as implying the existence of a multiverse.

Meaning of life: The ultimate fate of the universe, and implicitly humanity, is hypothesized as one in which biological life will eventually become unsustainable, such as through a Big Freeze, Big Rip, or Big Crunch.Theoretical cosmology studies many alternative speculative models for the origin and fate of the universe beyond the Big Bang theory.A recent trend has been models of the creation of 'baby universes' inside black holes, with our own Big Bang being a white hole on the inside of a black hole in another parent universe.

Meaning of life: Many-worlds theories claim that every possibility of quantum mechanics is played out in parallel universes.The nature and origin of consciousness and the mind itself are also widely debated in science.The explanatory gap is generally equated with the hard problem of consciousness, and the question of free will is also considered to be of fundamental importance.

Meaning of life: These subjects are mostly addressed in the fields of cognitive science, neuroscience (e.g.the neuroscience of free will) and philosophy of mind, though some evolutionary biologists and theoretical physicists have also made several allusions to the subject.Reductionistic and eliminative materialistic approaches, for example the Multiple Drafts Model, hold that consciousness can be wholly explained by neuroscience through the workings of the brain and its neurons, thus adhering to biological naturalism.

Meaning of life: On the other hand, some scientists, like Andrei Linde, have considered that consciousness, like spacetime, might have its own intrinsic degrees of freedom, and that one's perceptions may be as real as (or even more real than) material objects.Hypotheses of consciousness and spacetime explain consciousness in describing a "space of conscious elements", often encompassing a number of extra dimensions.Electromagnetic theories of consciousness solve the binding problem of consciousness in saying that the electromagnetic field generated by the brain is the actual carrier of conscious experience; there is however disagreement about the implementations of such a theory relating to other workings of the mind.

Meaning of life: Quantum mind theories use quantum theory in explaining certain properties of the mind.Explaining the process of free will through quantum phenomena is a popular alternative to determinism.Based on the premises of non-materialistic explanations of the mind, some have suggested the existence of a cosmic consciousness, asserting that consciousness is actually the "ground of all being".

Meaning of life: Proponents of this view cite accounts of paranormal phenomena, primarily extrasensory perceptions and psychic powers, as evidence for an incorporeal higher consciousness.In hopes of proving the existence of these phenomena, parapsychologists have orchestrated various experiments, but successful results might be due to poor experimental controls and might have alternative explanations.The most common definitions of meaning in life involve three components.

Meaning of life: First, Reker and Wong define personal meaning as the "cognizance of order, coherence and purpose in one's existence, the pursuit and attainment of worthwhile goals, and an accompanying sense of fulfillment" (p. 221).In 2016 Martela and Steger defined meaning as coherence, purpose, and significance.In contrast, Wong has proposed a four-component solution to the question of meaning in life, with the four components purpose, understanding, responsibility, and enjoyment (PURE): Thus, a sense of significance permeates every dimension of meaning, rather than stands as a separate factor.

Meaning of life: Although most psychology researchers consider meaning in life as a subjective feeling or judgment, most philosophers (e.g., Thaddeus Metz, Daniel Haybron) propose that there are also objective, concrete criteria for what constitutes meaning in life.Wong has proposed that whether life is meaningful depends not only on subjective feelings but, more importantly, on whether a person's goal-striving and life as a whole is meaningful according to some objective normative standard.The philosophical perspectives on the meaning of life are those ideologies that explain life in terms of ideals or abstractions defined by humans.