Martin Offers Repentance Even to the Devil

The devil tried to deceive the holy man with a thousand harmful tricks, and he often thrust himself on Martin in visible form, but in many different shapes. Sometimes he appeared to him changed into the figure of Jupiter, and often into that of Mercury, and of Minerva. Often, too, words of abuse were heard as the crowd of demons attacked Martin with scurrilous language. But he knew that all of it was false and groundless, and he was not moved by the charges brought against him. [a]

Some of the brothers also testified that they had heard a demon abusing Martin in insulting terms. It asked why he had taken back, after they later repented, certain of the brothers who some time before had lost their baptism by falling into various errors, and the demon listed the crimes of each one. But, they added, Martin firmly resisted the devil and answered him that past sins are cleansed away by living a better life, and that through the mercy of God those who have given up their evil ways are to be absolved of their sins. The devil argued against this that such guilty men did not come within reach of pardon, and that the Lord showed no mercy to those who had once fallen away. Then Martin is said to have cried out in words to this effect: “If you yourself, wretched one, would only stop attacking mankind, and even now, when the day of judgment is at hand, would only repent of your deeds, I, with true confidence in the Lord, would promise you the mercy of Christ.” Oh, what holy boldness about the loving-kindness of the Lord! Though he could not speak for it with authority, he still showed the feelings that lived within him.

And since our account has turned here to the devil and his schemes, it does not seem beside the point to tell what took place, although the matter does not bear directly on Martin. For Martin’s powers do appear in it to some extent, and the incident, which deserves to be called a miracle, will rightly be put on record as a warning, should anything of a similar kind happen later.