A document dated to March of 1312 attests that an Italian cardinal named Gentile Partino, a member of the Franciscan Order, commissioned a chapel to be added to the lower basilica of St Francis in Assisi, dedicated to St Martin of Tours, whose feast is kept today. Later that spring, His Eminence was in Siena, and commissioned the painter Simone Martini, a native of that city, to go to Assisi and decorate the chapel with a series of frescos of the titular Saint’s life. The cardinal himself died in October of that year; Martini would complete his work in the chapel in three phases, ending in 1318. Martin is one of the very first confessors to be widely venerated in the West, partly because of a biography of him written by a contemporary and friend named Sulpicius Severus. The stories presented here are partly based on it, but also on traditional legends which are not in Sulpicius’ work.
The cycle begins with the most famous story of Martin’s life, that when he was a young soldier serving near Amiens, and still only a catechumen, he met a half-naked beggar, and having nothing else to share with him, cut his own cloak in two and gave the beggar one of the halves.
That night, Christ appeared to him in a dream holding the piece of the cloak, saying “Martin, while still a catechumen, covered me with this garment.” This direct quote from Sulpicius’ biography is the first antiphon of Matins of St Martin.
Although it may seem like a folk-etymology, it is actually true that the word “chapel” derives from the Latin word for cloak, “cappa”, in reference to the relic of St Martin’s cloak. As explained by the Catholic Encyclopedia, “This cape, or its representative, was afterwards preserved as a relic and accompanied the Frankish kings in their wars, and the tent which sheltered it became known also as cappella or capella. In this tent Mass was celebrated by the military chaplains (capellani). When at rest in the palace the relic likewise gave its name to the oratory where it was kept, and subsequently any oratory where Mass and Divine service were celebrated was called capella (in Latin), chapelle (in French), chapel.”
Sulpicius then says that Martin continued to served as a soldier for two years. His military service is anachronistically represented here by the medieval rite of the investiture of a knight.
As the barbarians invade Gaul, Martin renounces his military service before the emperor Julian the Apostate, in order to dedicate his life to serving Christ.
The cycle now jumps over the years when Martin lived as a monk to his episcopacy, which began in 371. The story shown here, which is in the Golden Legend, but not in Sulpicius, tells that Martin had a request to make of the emperor Valentinian, something which the emperor did not wish to grant, and therefore forbade Martin entrance to the palace on two occasions. After a week of fasting and wearing of a hairshirt, Martin was told by an angel to return, and he was able to gain access to the throne room. The emperor was at first greatly angered by this, but then his throne was engulfed in flames, and his majesty singed on his hind parts. He offered Martin everything he intended to ask for, but in the Golden Legend’s telling, Martin inexplicably refuses it.
Martin raises a man from the dead; the first responsory at Matins refers to the tradition that he such a miracle three times. However, the Roman version of the lessons does not include a passage found in many others, that he himself said that he had not received such great grace in the episcopacy as he had before it, since he raised two men from the dead before he became a bishop, but only one after.
As he celebrates Mass, a globe of fire appears over him. Commenting on the liturgical texts for his feast day, William Durandus writes (Rat. Div. Off. VII, 37), “He is called ‘equal to the Apostles’, not, as some people think, because he raised people from the dead, since many other martyrs and confessors have done the same; nor because of the multitude of his miracles, but especially because of one particular miracle... (while he was celebrating Mass) a globe of fire appeared over his head, by which it was shown that the Holy Spirit had descended upon him… as He came upon the Apostles at Pentecost. Whence he is rightly called ‘equal to the Apostles,’ and is indeed equal to them in the liturgy.”
A famous legend of St Ambrose tells that he once fell into a deep sleep for several hours during services in church, and on waking, told his clergy that he had been present for the funeral of St Martin in the city of Tours. (St Martin actually died in the same year as St Ambrose, but 7 months later.)
The death of St Martin...
and his burial; at top, his soul is accompanied to heaven by angels.
This last part of the fresco cycle represents Cardinal Partino kneeling before St Martin as a sign that he is offering the chapel to him.
The large arch that leads into the chapel is decorated with eight portraits of Saints: Anthony of Padua and Francis...
Clare and Elizabeth of Hungary
Louis IX, the king of France, and Louis of Toulouse
Mary Magdalene and Catherine of Alexandria.
