Martin was born in 316 to pagan parents at Szombathely (now Hungary but then in the Roman province of Pannonia) and served as a soldier. At the age of eighteen when he was still a catechumen he met a naked beggar to whom he gave half his cloak. That night he had a dream in which the Lord Himself was wearing his cloak. He founded the first monastery in the West. In 372 he became bishop of Tours France. His great work was to evangelise the pagan countryside. Then only the cities had Christians. He organised a mission approach, founded more monasteries, in a sense made France Catholic. He died in 397. He was one of the first saints to be popularly venerated despite not being a martyr. – CTS New Daily Roman Missal 2012, p 3137; Vatican II Weekday Missal 1975, p 1805
