Martin Converts a Robber

After leaving the army, Martin eagerly sought the company of Hilary, bishop of the city of Poitiers, whose faith in the things of God was then highly renowned and held in esteem everywhere. Martin stayed with him for some time. This same Hilary tried to bind him still more closely to himself by laying on him the office of deacon, and so attaching him to the divine service. But Martin kept refusing, crying out that he was unworthy. Hilary, being a man of deep insight, saw that the only way to hold him was to lay on him an office whose acceptance would seem a kind of slight to him. So he appointed him an exorcist. Martin did not refuse this appointment, for fear that he might seem to look down on it as too lowly. [a]

Not long after this he was warned in a dream to visit his native land, and especially his parents, who were still caught up in paganism, out of concern for their religion. He set out with the agreement of holy Hilary, after Hilary had begged him with many prayers and tears to come back in due time. It is said that Martin began that journey in a sad frame of mind, after calling the brothers to witness that many sufferings lay ahead of him. What happened fully bore this out. For first of all, following some out-of-the-way paths in the Alps, he fell into the hands of robbers. One of them raised his axe and held it poised over Martin’s head, but another caught the falling blow with his right hand. Even so, Martin’s hands were tied behind his back, and he was handed over to one of them to be guarded and stripped. The robber led him off to a secluded spot away from the rest and began to ask him who he was. Martin answered that he was a Christian. The robber next asked him whether he was afraid. Then Martin answered most courageously that he had never before felt so safe, because he knew that the mercy of the Lord would be especially near him in the midst of trials. He added that he grieved rather for the man who held him, because by living a life of robbery he was showing himself unworthy of the mercy of Christ.

Then, beginning to speak about the truth of the gospel, he preached the word of God to the robber. Why should I put off telling the result? The robber believed. He showed Martin his respect, set him back on his way, and begged him to pray to the Lord for him. That same robber was later seen living a religious life; in fact, the account I have given above is based on what he himself told.