The two Saint Martin windows in the ambulatory
Soldier, monk and then bishop, Martin is a great emblematic figure, known for his kindness, his charity and his love of others. He is the protector of the outcast. He shares everything he owns: his cloak, but also his faith and his love of God. He is the living symbol of the charity of Christ, “a giant of holiness”, as Pius XI put it.
Saint Martin has remained a myth, a legend, a model, a Christian ideal whom Pope John Paul II came to honour in Tours on 21 September 1996, for the 1,600th anniversary of his death, saying in particular: “Blessed are you, Christians of France, to have deserved such a patron at the dawn of your history”.
“Christ apart, no figure in Christianity has exerted, in life and above all in death, such an enduring influence”
Left-hand window
- The first Charity of Saint Martin: Martin, on a white horse, cuts his cloak in two with his sword to give half of it to a poor wretch shivering with cold at the gates of Amiens. This is the best-known and most widespread scene, the one that carried him straight into legend. View
- Martin the miracle-worker performs his first miracle at Ligugé, bringing one of his disciples, a catechumen, back to life. View
- Martin is consecrated bishop on 4 July 371 in the cathedral of Tours, after the death of Bishop Lidoire. View
Right-hand window
- Martin casts out demons from the possessed. Dressed in episcopal vestments, he raises his left hand to drive out a demon, which comes out through the mouth of the possessed man. View
- The death of Martin: he dies at Candes on 10 November 397. Lying on his bed, he stretches his arms towards heaven. Three monks keep watch over him. View
- Martin’s body is brought back to Tours: the monks of Tours carry it home along the Loire, and the bushes on the banks burst into flower again as the boat passes, hence the French expression “l’été de la Saint-Martin” (Saint Martin’s summer). View
