Regine Pernoud, the highly acclaimed French medieval historian and bestselling author, presents an enlightening biography of one of France's most revered saints, and a man whose impact on France, and Europe, continues to this day. Martin of Tours lived in the fourth century, at that great turning point in history when Christianity became legal in the Roman Empire. He left a successful career in the military life to become a monk, and later a bishop who traveled extensively, evangelizing the countryside and creating that particular sort of community life in a village that is now called a "parish". More than four hundred towns and some four thousand parishes in France are named after St. Martin. The term "chapel" is derived from the oratory where pilgrims venerated Martin's "cape" or cloak. Martin of Tours was a servant of the common man, as well as the nobility, and a very humble man who responded to the needs of his times and opened up vast perspectives for ordinary, everyday life. Given the crisis of the Christian Faith now facing France, Europe, and the West, the story of this soldier and great apsotle and Christian evangelist is a timely one indeed. Book jacket.