MARTIAL OF LIMOGES

(fl. ca. 250). Saint, missionary, bishop of Limoges. According to Gregory of Tours, Martial of Limoges was one of the seven missionaries active in Gaul ca. 250. Later, a brief vita presented him as a disciple of the Apostle Peter, but the cult remained unexceptional until the end of the 10th century, when in conjunction with the Peace movement Martial became one of Gaul’s foremost saints. A new story of his origins emerged in which he became Peter’s younger cousin, companion of Jesus, towel holder at the Last Supper, witness to the Ascension and Pentecost, and spectacularly successful missionary to all of Gaul. The great success of this legend and the sensational consecration of a new, pilgrimage-style basilica at Limoges in 1028 inspired the monks to promote Martial to the status of apostle. Under the leadership of Ademar de Chabannes, they produced an elaborate apostolic liturgy: but on the day of its inauguration, August 3, 1029, the ceremony was interrupted by a Lombard prior, Benedict of Chiusa, who crushed Ademar and the monks in public debate. Ademar, however, composed forgeries and fictive narratives in which Pope John XIX and various church councils supported his cause: about a century later, the monks of Saint-Martial successfully redeployed these works and established Martial’s apostolicity for the next nine centuries. There was a major ostention of the relics in 1388, and by the 16th century the tradition developed— still alive today—of carrying the relics through the city every seven years.

Richard Landes

[See also: ADEMAR DE CHABANNES: HAGIOGRAPHY: RELICS AND RELIQUARIES: SAINTS, CULT OF]

Vita 1: BSAHL 40(1892):238-43: Vita 2: Surius, Laurentius. Vitae sanctorum exprobatis

Authoribus et MSS. codicibus. Cologne: Sumptibus Ioannis Kreps et Hermann! Mylii, 1617-18, Vol. 6, pp. 365-74.

Callahan, Daniel. “Sermons of Ademar of Chabannes and the Cult of St. Martial of Limoges.” Rewe benedictine 86(1976): 251-95.

Landes, Richard. The Deceits of History: The Life and Times of Ademar of Chabannes (989-1034). Forthcoming.

--, and Catherine Paupert, trans. Naissance d’apotre: la vie de saint Martial de Limoges.

Turnhout: Brepols, 1991.

Le Maitre, Jean Loup. “Les miracles de saint Martial accomplis lors de l’ostension de 1388.” BSAHL 102(1975):67-139.