lived: 316 to 397.
Martin was a young soldier when he came across a beggar at the gate of the city of Amiens, France. Gripped by compassion for the poor, freezing man, Martin tore his own cloak in two and handed a part of it to the man.
That night, Martin had a vision of Jesus Christ dressed in the piece of cloak he had given to the beggar. Jesus smiled, looked at the angels around him, and said proudly: Martin clothed me with this robe. Smiling, he quoted Matthew 25: 40-inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.
That revelatory vision changed his life. Martin left the army and became a monk: I have served you as a soldier; let me now serve Christ. Give the bounty to these others who are going to fight, but I am a soldier of Christ, and it is not lawful for me to fight, he said. Once, a group of thieves robbed him-and he lead one of them to Christ on the spot.
Throughout his life, Martin followed the insight given to him in his dreams. He used that gift to plan pilgrimages, trips, and moves. His contemporaries record that he operated strongly in the prophetic. Even in his final days-having known through a prophetic word that he was about to die; he traveled a long distance to reconcile two warring factions within a church.
Place me alone in the front of the battle, with no weapon but the cross alone, and I shall not fear to meet the enemy single handed and unarmed.