On November 11, 1918, World War I (then called The Great War since no one could imagine any war being greater) ended with an armistice [temporary cessation of hostilities.] Over time, today became Veteran's Day.
Interestingly, November 11th is also the Feast Day of St. Martin of Tours.
As a Roman soldier in the fourth century, Martin was on garrison duty at Amiens. A bitterly cold winter day, the young tribune Martin rode through the gates. As he approached the gates he saw a beggar, with clothes so ragged that he was practically naked. The beggar must have been shaking and blue from the cold but no one reached out to help him. Martin, overcome with compassion, took off his mantle. In one quick stroke he slashed the lovely mantle in two with his sword, handed half to the freezing man and wrapped the remainder on his own shoulders. Many in the crowd thought this was so ridiculous a sight that they laughed and jeered. A few realized they were seeing Christian goodness.
That night Martin dreamed that he saw Jesus wearing the half mantle he had given the beggar. Jesus said to the angels and saints that surrounded him, "See! this is the mantle that Martin, yet a catechumen, gave me." When he woke, it was the "yet a catechumen" that caught his attention. Martin went immediately to be baptized. He was eighteen years old.
It was the practice at the time to give money to soldiers before battle, in order to infuse the soldiers with a greater love of their country and desire to fight. When Julian lined up the soldiers in Gaul to give them their bounty, Martin refused to accept the money -- and to fight -- saying, "Put me in the front of the army, without weapons or armor; but I will not draw sword again. I am become the soldier of Christ." They did. Although he was in the front of the fighting he never drew his sword and he was unharmed.
Martin became a monk and began what may have been the first monastery in France, near Tours. A citizen of Tours came to Martin and begged him to come visit his sick wife. When the kindhearted Martin got to Tours, crowds of people came out of hiding and surrounded him. They knew if a delegation had been sent to say he was their choice for a Bishop he would have refused. So they had tricked him. Unable to escape, he was swept into the city.
Although the people were enthusiastic about their choice, the bishops there to consecrate the new bishop declared they were repelled by this dirty, ragged, disheveled man. The people's reply was that they didn't choose Martin for his haircut, which could be fixed by any barber, but for his holiness and poverty, that only charity and grace could bring. Overwhelmed by the will of the crowds the bishops had no choice but to consecrate Martin.
Today we celebrate St. Martin and all our veterans.
