I never knew the stories behind my Saint medal collection until I started listing them.
Saint Martin of Tours religious medal, available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab
Today I have two stories to tell. One from a kind Etsy buyer who left her story and the one about Martin de Tours.
Here is the email story:
Hello,
You asked about the purpose of the purchase. Someone did something very very nice for me & they are a mounted policeman. I wanted to get something for him that would help protect him in his job as a horseback rider. He's also ex military. I'd love to know more about your story!
Here is what I wrote back:
Hi!
Thank you so much for your order and story! That is such a cool kind and thoughtful story! So cool you know a mounted policeman!
As a recovering hoarder, my story is that I used to hoard religious items, mainly medals for my repetition art (which is way out of control!) and had no idea about the story of each Saint until I started listing them as I try and let go of my hoard!
Thanks for your story, when I write about it on my blog I'll leave you anonymous and I never know what more insight I'll get from your story until I start writing the post, so I look forward to it. Plus I think this is my first Martin de Tours story.
I can't thank you enough for your story!
Kennedy
PS. Your order was shipped out today with tracking
Thank you so much for your order and story! That is such a cool kind and thoughtful story! So cool you know a mounted policeman!
As a recovering hoarder, my story is that I used to hoard religious items, mainly medals for my repetition art (which is way out of control!) and had no idea about the story of each Saint until I started listing them as I try and let go of my hoard!
Thanks for your story, when I write about it on my blog I'll leave you anonymous and I never know what more insight I'll get from your story until I start writing the post, so I look forward to it. Plus I think this is my first Martin de Tours story.
I can't thank you enough for your story!
Kennedy
PS. Your order was shipped out today with tracking
Saint Martin de Tours religious medal, available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab
Of course, I was so curious about what the very very nice thing was from a mounted policeman and I was so tempted to ask her if the kindness was him cutting his coat in half to share with her, but I chickened out!
Here is what I find interesting about Martin de Tours:
1. As it shows on the medal, St Martin is giving half his cloak to a beggar by cutting it
in half with his sword. His cloak is a legendary relic worn by
centuries of kings into battle.
2. He was a Christian when it was a minority faith at the age of 10, in
316 AD. Christianity had been made a legal religion in 313 AD.
3. May have been one of the first noted conscientious objectors and his
famous cloak may have been the beginnings of chaplains in the
battlefields.
4. Martin didn't remain a soldier long due to his faith, which he
determined prohibited him from fighting, saying, "I am a soldier of
Christ. I cannot fight." He was charged with cowardice and jailed, but
in response to the charge, he volunteered to go unarmed to the front of
the troops. His superiors planned to take him up on the offer, but
before they could, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never
occurred, and Martin was released from military service. Many years
later he became a bishop in France.
5. He is the patron Saint to soldiers and beggars because his cloak has
become a relic and he is known for cutting it in half without worry to
share it with a beggar during a snowstorm to keep him from freezing from
the cold.
That night, Martin dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak he had given away. He heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptized; he has clad me." (Sulpicius, ch 2). In another version, when Martin woke, he found his cloak restored to wholeness. The dream confirmed Martin in his piety, and he was baptized at the age of 18.
The part kept by himself became the famous relic preserved in the oratory of the Merovingian kings of the Franks at the Marmoutier Abbey near Tours. During the Middle Ages, the supposed relic of St. Martin’s miraculous cloak, (cappa Sancti Martini) was carried by the king even into battle, and used as a holy relic upon which oaths were sworn. The cloak is first attested in the royal treasury in 679, when it was conserved at the palatium of Luzarches, a royal villa that was later ceded to the monks of Saint-Denis by Charlemagne, in 798/99.
The priest who cared for the cloak in its reliquary was called a cappellanu, and ultimately all priests who served the military were called cappellani. The French translation is chapelains, from which the English word chaplain is derived. One of the many services a chaplain can provide is spiritual and pastoral support for military service personnel by performing religious services at sea or in the battlefield.
That night, Martin dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak he had given away. He heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptized; he has clad me." (Sulpicius, ch 2). In another version, when Martin woke, he found his cloak restored to wholeness. The dream confirmed Martin in his piety, and he was baptized at the age of 18.
The part kept by himself became the famous relic preserved in the oratory of the Merovingian kings of the Franks at the Marmoutier Abbey near Tours. During the Middle Ages, the supposed relic of St. Martin’s miraculous cloak, (cappa Sancti Martini) was carried by the king even into battle, and used as a holy relic upon which oaths were sworn. The cloak is first attested in the royal treasury in 679, when it was conserved at the palatium of Luzarches, a royal villa that was later ceded to the monks of Saint-Denis by Charlemagne, in 798/99.
The priest who cared for the cloak in its reliquary was called a cappellanu, and ultimately all priests who served the military were called cappellani. The French translation is chapelains, from which the English word chaplain is derived. One of the many services a chaplain can provide is spiritual and pastoral support for military service personnel by performing religious services at sea or in the battlefield.
Head reliquary of St. Martin. Gilt silver and copper, basse-taille
enamel over silver (restored in the 20th century), made in Avignon (?),
late 14th century. From the church of Soudeilles (Corrèze, France)
photo and information from wikipedia
Another story I found interesting about him!
1. Not only didn't Martin want to be a soldier, but he didn't want to be a bishop either!
2. The goose became a symbol of St Martin of Tours because of a another legend that when trying to avoid being ordained bishop he had hidden in a goose pen, where he was betrayed by the cackling of the geese.
St. Martin's feast day falls in November, when geese are ready for killing. St Martin’s Day was an important medieval autumn feast, and the custom of eating goose spread all through Europe, which has evolved and is known today as "Advent."
It was primarily observed by the craftsmen and noblemen of the towns. In the peasant community, not everyone could afford to eat goose, so many ate duck or hen instead.
Saint Martin de Tours religious medal, available here
photo via Hoarder Rehab
Saying Goodbye: I have many of these and they have since become one of our more popular religious medals. I started collecting religious medals in the 80s, especially the same ones because I had planned on making repetition religious folk art with them. I did make some religious folk art, but ended up using mostly milagros instead.
Garden cross to cure my brown thumb, available here
Love cross for my brother until he crossed paths with his true love, available here
photo via The Destiny of Things
What I Learned:
1. I tend to buy way more art supplies than I use! I do know that my art projects used to last about 2 years and then I'd move on to another one, but I haven't found any projects lately to keep my interest for two years, however, it hasn't stopped me from finding items I just have to have!
2. I can safely say that over 1000 hoarded items have found new homes, thanks to Etsy! and my hoard is a lot more manageable and organized. Now I just need to find an art project to keep me creating, rather than buying.
3. I've definitely learned more than I ever thought I would about all the religious medals I've collected over the decades and I never thought I'd be on the selling side of retail and am still learning so much with so much more to learn. It's much easier being on the retail therapy side! And not as easy finding alternatives to comfort buys, although I'm getting better at just window shopping!
St Michael religious medal with Police Officer's Prayer, available here
photo via The Destiny of Things
Thank you Etsy buyer from Hoarder Rehab for taking the time to email and share
your story, especially since I haven't received a religious medal story in such a long time! So good to get another one!
Also, it's reminded me that I art in the past has helped me from hoarding and I hope to find some art projects to rekindle a two year interest.
Thank you Etsy for the best Hoarder Rehab ever! And these St Martin de Tours are one of most popular religious medals! Thanks again!
Thank you readers from all over the world who continue to support my Hoarder Rehab and The Destiny of Things with your visits even though I've been napping the last couple of months during my blog time now that my insomnia is over!
Here is another one of our most popular medals, St William, available here
photo via VintageToGoEasy
I
am adding new items weekly to each shop until I have 800 of my dehoard
listed that will be 200 items listed at each shop! However, I still
need to focus on my health, so I'm adding slowly, but surely.
JUST 11 more items to list before I reach my goal! Yippee!
Click on the shop names to visit new hoard listed daily and/or weekly: HoarderRehab with 194 items, The Destiny of Things- 191 items, VintageToGoEasy - 202 items and now JunkDrawerAndMore - 202 items!
Maybe you'll find something to adopt and share your story too! Thanks for looking!
Tomorrow is the last day to order (with USPS first class mail, 2-3 day Priority mail is available until February 1, 2016) Year of the Monkey drink and/or cake toppers for your Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, available here
photo via JunkDrawerAndMore
Related Stories:
1. My first story about religious medals and first order from The Destiny of Things!
Mortician Religious Medals: The Destiny of Things, Story XXIII
Mortician Religious Medals: The Destiny of Things, Story XXIII
3. Hans Vilhelm Hansen's Version of St. Laboure's Miraculous Medal: The Destiny of Things, Story XXXVI
5. St Christopher medal is with a student studying in Africa! A Mighty Circular Destiny as Infinity Story: The Destiny of Things XLIII
If you love religious medals as much as I do, you might like this 18 medal necklace!
My most favorite rosary necklace from 1910! available here
photo via The Destiny of Things
7. Added to a rosary: Happy Saint Patrick's Day Story: The Destiny of Things, Story LXI
11. Made into earrings by a creative Etsy shop owner: Pope Pius X Canonization Medals: The Destiny of Things, Story LXXVII
This unique bracelet has even more with 20 medals! Available here
photo via VintageToGoEasy
Who's your favorite Saint or religious icon? Hmm.... mine might be Saint Jude Thaddeus of lost causes due to my hoarding, however I do like Our Lady of the Highway and Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Our Lady of Guadalupe was one of the first icons that started my whole religious folk art collecting, besides milagros!
