Martin Gives Away His Tunic

“Well then: when I had first left the schools and attached myself to the blessed man, a few days after doing so we were following him on his way to the church. On the way a poor man, half naked in those winter months, met him and begged to be given some clothing. Martin called for the chief deacon and ordered that the shivering man be clothed without delay. After that he went into a private room and sat down by himself, as was his custom. He kept this retirement for himself even at the church, the clerics being left free, since the presbyters sat in another room, either spending their time in exchanging courtesies or busy hearing matters of business. But Martin kept to his own seclusion until the hour at which custom required that the sacred rites be administered to the people. [a]

“I will not pass over this point either: when sitting in his retirement he never used a chair. And in the church no one ever saw him sitting, as I recently saw a certain man (God is my witness), and not without shame at the sight, seated on a lofty throne, indeed, by its height, a kind of royal judgment seat. Martin could be seen sitting on a rough little stool, the kind the lowest servants use, which we Gallic country people call tripets, and which you educated men, or at least those of you who are from Greece, call tripods.

“Well, that poor man we had come upon, since the chief deacon was slow to give him the garment, rushed into the blessed man’s private room, complaining that the cleric had neglected him and bitterly lamenting the cold he was suffering. There was no delay. While the man was not looking, the holy man secretly drew off the tunic he wore under his outer garment, clothed the poor man with it, and told him to go on his way. A little later the chief deacon came in and told him, as was the custom, that the people were waiting in the church and that he must go and perform the sacred rites. Martin answered him that the poor man (meaning himself) had to be clothed, and that he could not possibly go to the church unless the poor man received a garment. The deacon did not understand how things really stood, for Martin, outwardly dressed in a cloak, was not seen by him to be naked underneath; and at last he began to complain that the poor man was not showing up. Martin said: ‘Let the garment that has been got ready be brought to me. There will be no lack of a poor man to be clothed.’

“Then at last the cleric, forced by necessity, and now in no very sweet temper, hurriedly got a rough garment from the nearest shop, short and shaggy, costing only five pieces of silver, and laid it angrily at Martin’s feet, crying: ‘There is the garment; but the poor man is not here.’ Martin, not at all disturbed, told him to step out to the door for a little, so keeping his secret, and, naked as he was, he put the garment on, trying with all his might to keep hidden what he had done. But when do such things stay hidden with the saints, even when they wish them to? Whether they will or not, all of it comes to light.