The storiesV / IX
Marmoutier: the bishop who lived in a hut
As bishop of Tours, Martin lived in a wooden hut by the Loire. About eighty monks joined him in caves in the cliff.
Ligugé, then Marmoutier beside Tours
Even as bishop he would not live like one.
Two miles from Tours, between a cliff and a bend of the Loire, he built a hut of wood.
About eighty others followed. Most dug their rooms into the soft rock.
Nobody owned anything. Nobody bought or sold.
One kind of manual work was allowed: copying books.
Margin noteMany of them came from good families and soft beds. I mention it because I did too.
From the book
Chapter X · The bishop who lived in a wooden hut: The founding of Marmoutier
Once he had become bishop, I can hardly find words to describe the greatness of soul that Martin showed. He went on being exactly the same man he had always been: the same…
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