The storiesIV / IX
Saint Martin and the robbers in the Alps
Ambushed on a mountain road and tied up, Martin said he had never felt safer, and that he was sorry for the man holding the rope.
Poitiers, then the Alps
Out of the army, he goes to Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, the sharpest mind in Gaul.
Hilary offers to make him a deacon. Martin says he is not worthy. Again and again.
So Hilary offers the lowest job in the church instead. That one he takes.
Crossing the Alps to see his parents, he is ambushed. An axe goes up. Another robber stops it.
Tied up, asked if he is afraid, he answers that he has never felt safer. He is sorry, he says, for the man holding the rope.
Margin noteThe robber walked him back to the road and later became a monk. This story is said to come from him.
From the book
Chapter V · Saint Hilary of Poitiers, the office of exorcist and the robbers’ ambush in the Alps
As soon as he left military life, Martin went to find Saint Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, a man whose faith and religious wisdom were at that time admired by everyone, and stayed…
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