Amiens

An event in Amiens forms the basis of the feast of Saint Martin on 11 November. This is the feast day of Saint Martin of Tours who died in the 4th century AD. As a member of a Roman army, he met a beggar one day at the city gate of Amiens in France. Saint Martin decided to cut his precious cloak in half. He gave the beggar half of his cloak, the other half was officially the property of Rome. This event is beautifully portrayed by Antoon van Dijck and many other artists (see painting). Did you know that this masterpiece can be visited in the parish church of Zaventem? According to a legend, the poor man was a symbol of Christ. At night, Christ himself would have appeared to Martin and said something like:

"I was naked and you clothed Me."

Martin of Tours converted to Christianity and after leaving the Roman army, he became a pupil of the Bishop of Poitiers. After this Martinus lived for some time as a hermit. He also worked as an exorcist and founded the first monastery on French soil near Poitiers.

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