Martin as Bishop of Tours

Now that he had taken up the office of bishop, it is beyond my power to describe fully how Martin distinguished himself in carrying out its duties. For he remained, with the greatest constancy, the same as he had been before. There was the same humility in his heart and the same plainness in his clothes. Full alike of dignity and courtesy, he upheld the position of a bishop properly, yet in such a way that he did not lay aside the aims and virtues of a monk. [a]

For some time, then, he used the cell attached to the church. But later, when he found he could no longer bear the disturbance caused by the numbers of people visiting it, he set up a monastery for himself about two miles outside the city. This spot was so hidden and remote that he enjoyed in it the solitude of a hermit. On one side it was walled in by the sheer rock face of a high mountain, while the river Loire had closed off the rest of the level ground with a bay running back a little way; and the place could be reached by only one passage, and that a very narrow one. Here, then, he had a cell built of wood. Many of the brothers had made shelters for themselves in the same way, but most of them had made theirs out of the rock of the overhanging mountain, hollowed out into caves.

There were eighty disciples in all, being trained after the example of their holy master. No one there had anything that was called his own; everything was held in common. No one was allowed to buy or sell anything, as is the custom among most monks. No craft was practiced there except that of copying books, and even this was assigned to the younger brothers, while the elders spent their time in prayer. Rarely did any of them go outside his cell, except when they gathered at the place of prayer. They all took their food together, after the hour of fasting was past. No one drank wine, unless illness made it necessary. Most of them were dressed in garments of camel’s hair. Any clothing that came near to softness was counted a crime there. This must be thought all the more remarkable because many among them were men regarded as of noble rank. Though brought up very differently, they had forced themselves down to this degree of humility and patient endurance, and we have seen many of them afterward made bishops. For what city or church would there be that would not want to have its priests from Martin’s monastery?