Martial of Limoges (3rd century), whose name is also rendered as Marcial, Martialis, and Marcialis,[2] and is also called "the Apostle of the Gauls" or "the Apostle of Aquitaine," was the first bishop of Limoges.[3] Venerated as a Christian saint, Martial of Limoges is considered to have been canonized Pre-Congregation, and his feast day is on 30 June.[2]
There is no accurate information as to the origin, dates of birth and death, or the acts of this bishop, although he is said to have come from the "East."[4] According to Gregory of Tours, during the time of the Emperors Decius Pope Fabian sent out seven bishops from Rome to Gaul to preach the Gospel: Gatien to Tours, Trophimus to Arles, Paul to Narbonne, Saturnin to Toulouse, Denis to Paris, Austromoine to Clermont, and Martial to Limoges.[5] According to the Golden Legend, when Martial first went to Limoges as a missionary, he visited the temple, where the priests beat him before having him imprisoned. During his morning prayers the following day, a great light surrounded him and the bars and chains burst open, releasing Martial and resulting in the prison guards requesting to be baptised by him.[6] He succeeded in converting the inhabitants to Christianity, and his memory has always been venerated there.[5]
Abbey
Sarcophagus of St Martial in the crypt below the Place de la République, Limoges
The Abbey of Saint-Martial, one of the great pilgrimage churches of western Christianity, was so thoroughly razed in the 19th century, that only the scattered manuscripts of its library remain. Some of said manuscripts had been bought for Louis XV and have come to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The original crypt was exhumed in 1966–1970. Twelve Romanesque carved capitals were discovered built into the foundations of a barn and purchased in 1994 for the Museum of the Bishopric of Limoges.
Hagiography
Saint Martial cures the son of Arnulfus.
The Miracula Martialis, an account of 7th-, 8th- and 9th-century miracles, was written shortly after 854.
The influx of pilgrims to the abbey where the historical Martial lay buried encouraged the creation of an elaborate hagiography during the 10th century. As the hagiography grew, Martial was moved back in time: now, sent into Gaul by Peter himself, he is said to have evangelized not only the Province of Limoges but all of Aquitaine. He performed many miracles, among others the raising of a dead man to life, by touching him with a rod that Peter had given him.[5]
In the 13th century compendium of lore, the Golden Legend, the legendary Martial appears with many miracles, casting out fiends and raising the dead and conducting mass baptisms.[6]
As late as 1854, Mons. Buissas, Bishop of Limoges, petitioned Pope Pius IX to bestow on Martial the honors of a disciple of Christ, but was turned down. The full discovery of Ademar's tissue of forged documents, including an imaginary church council and a papal letter, was not revealed until the 1920s, and continued for several generations to be resisted in conservative Catholic circles.
Martial is also associated with Valerie of Limoges, a martyr of the 3rd or 4th centuries, who is said to have carried her head to him after her decapitation.
Veneration
His help was invoked during an epidemic of widespread ergot poisoning in Limoges in 994.[3] Martial was particularly honored in Bordeaux, where his pastoral staff was kept in the Basilica Saint-Seurin and used in processions to invoke his aid during outbreaks of pestilence.[8] He is a popular saint throughout Limousin. He is also venerated in Italy, where Colle di Val d'Elsa Cathedral is dedicated to him.
Aside from ergotism, he is generally invoked against epidemics;[2] he is also a patron saint of prisoners.[9] As a patron saint of places, Limoges, Avignon, and Cahors all enjoy his patronage.[2]
The Cloisters has a 12th-century stained-glass window of "Saint Martial Founding the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre."[10]
In Brazilian folklore, he is celebrated with bonfires on the day of his liturgical feast which closes the Festas Juninas in Maranhão.[13] In São Luís, in 2007, a monument was erected in his honor, given the popularity of his festivities, held in the city since 1928, and which annually gather thousands of people, in the Festejo de São Pedro e São Marçal, with the celebrations of the bumba-meu-boi.[13]
Gallery
Cupboard of the Arm, where a medieval reliquary containing the arm of Martial was stored.
Shrine of St Martial in the church of St Michel des Lions, Limoges, where the relics have been stored since the dissolution of the abbey
A statue of St Martial at the Ermita de San Marcial de Limoges, Femés, Lanzarote (he is the patron saint of Lanzarote)
Saint Martial Receives the Pastoral Staff From Saint Peter, in a fresco in the Palais des Papes, Avignon
↑ "Saint Martial". Centre de la culture du Limousin médiéval (in French). 2013. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
1 2 3 4 Clugnet, Léon (1910). "St. Martial". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.9. New York City: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
1 2 "Saint Martial". Treasures of Heaven. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
↑ de Lasteyrie, Charles (1901). L'abbaye de Saint-Martial de Limoges[The Abbey of Saint Martial of Limoges] (in French). Paris: A. Picard et fils.
↑ "Saint Martial de Limoges"[Saint Martial of Limoges]. Nominis (in French). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
Limoges is a city and commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated on the first western foothills of the Massif Central, Limoges is crossed by the river Vienne, of which it was originally the first ford crossing point.
Adémar de Chabannes was a French/Frankish monk, active as a composer, scribe, historian, poet, grammarian and literary forger. He was associated with the Abbey of Saint Martial, Limoges, where he was a central figure in the Saint Martial school, an important center of early medieval music. Much of his career was spent copying and transcribing earlier accounts of Frankish history; his major work was the Chronicon Aquitanicum et Francicum.
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