Pope Saint Martin I
Died: 655
Martin I lay too sick to fight on a couch in front of the altar when the soldiers burst into the Lateran basilica. He had come to the church when he heard the soldiers had landed. But the thought of kidnapping a sick pope from the house of God didn't stop the soldiers from grabbing him and hustling him down to their ship.
Elected pope in 649, Martin I had gotten in trouble for refusing to condone silence in the face of wrong. At that time there existed a popular heresy that held that Christ didn't have a human will, only a divine will. The emperor had issued an edict that didn't support Monothelism (as it was known) directly, but simply commanded that no one could discuss Jesus' will at all.
Monothelism was condemned at a council convened by Martin I. The council affirmed, once again, that since Jesus had two natures, human and divine, he had two wills, human and divine. The council then went further and condemned Constans edict to avoid discussion stating, "The Lord commanded us to shun evil and do good, but not to reject the good with the evil."
In his anger at this slap in the face, the emperor sent his soldiers to Rome to bring the pope to him. When Martin I arrived in Constantinople after a long voyage he was immediately put into prison. There he spent three months in a filthy, freezing cell while he suffered from dysentery. He was not allowed to wash and given the most disgusting food. After he was condemned for treason without being allowed to speak in his defense he was imprisoned for another three months.
From there he was exiled to the Crimea where he suffered from the famine of the land as well as the roughness of the land and its people. But hardest to take was the fact that the pope found himself friendless. His letters tell how his own church had deserted him and his friends had forgotten him. They wouldn't even send him oil or corn to live off of.
He died two years later in exile in the year 656, a martyr who stood up for the right of the Church to establish doctrine even in the face of imperial power.
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Pope St. Martin, Defender of Faith, please continue to pray for me to remain staunch and firm in my faith.
May the peace of the Lord be with your soul, dear pope saint Martin I, may you strenghthen our faith and guide the church to follow your footstep and build a solid church for the world, straight your might hand and heal me of abdominal pain and general body pain I ask through Christ our Lord, AMEN
Our humble pope saint Martin I, I beg you to pray to me and increase my faith to neglect evil and follow your footstep I look forward to the church to follow your example and build a great foundation for our entire world, may your soul have peace whenever you are lay, bless us in Jesus name, AMEN
13/14th april 2013:st martin I pope martyr pray for us!
Great pope saint Martin 1 i pray two you with all my faith and ask for your help
You went true hard times i ask you 2 pray for my family and friends
God Bless us all
Amen
Dear Pope Saint,
Kindly transfer your faith and fortitude to the current Pope to fight the heresies being propagated by the powerful and the wealthy in America and the western world. Enlighten the Catholic Church to condemn and in True faith reject the laws made by these men on Abortion, Contraception, same sex marriage etc. Fill the religious with your spirit that they will tirelessly work for Christ and become martyrs in rooting out these evils from the society. Let the spirit of the Church be revived by uniting themselves in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thank you for your example Martin
Please pray for Jacob that he finds peace ad the right path, for Michelle and Gwen that the doctors can help them and that Gwen survives the surgery and for all cancer patients especially the children. Thank you Dear Lord for making me cancer free for now.
oh St Martin? let me have the discretion to chosse good and to promeote good rahter than evil? pray for me. tnk you
The outline of St. Pope Martin I'st gives a glaring example how trends of "we; the people and body of the church" can display horrific behaviors towards our own. To find these deplorable contrasts of the Word of God, all we need to look at are our own churches, and the "clicks" within them, or the diocese hierarchy playing favorites to the main contributors, who in turn play master of operations within each and every church we call Catholic, often for their own gain or to contribute and/or condemn those of less fortune. I'm not preaching against the church made of the direct decadency of Christ (the Roman Catholic Church), rather; begging those participating in these iniquities to see the light, making for a church that acts as it should, in line with the teachings of the Lord.
Thank you for your intercession, dear Pope St. Martin I. Please continue to remember me in your prayers.
thanks for opening up this web for its an inspiration and help us to know about our catholic faith.
Dear Pope St. Martin 1st, admirable for the strength, courage and constancy of your fight for truth, pray for us. We Christians, who are pilgrims on earth, much is expected of us too, in our daily life to be true witnesses of our Faith, Pray for us dear saint, pray for all suffering children, who have no hope of living a normal life. Only a heavenly healing and a medical cure can free them of untold suffering....epileptic fits, speech and pervasive learning difficulties, and all sorts of unusual brain activity. Please help us with your special intercession on your feast day. I believe that God will answer our prayers. It is with this faith that I ask and implore your saintly intercession. Amen.,
May Our Lord grant us catholics who live in these indifferent days the same Grace He gave St Martin I, so as to live faithful to His call.
Heroic, admirable, but scary. Sometimes it seems this life is so insignificant in the scheme of eternity that all believers are destined to suffer unbelievable pain of one kind or another, just as Jesus did. The Evangelicals believe that God's glory and Blessings are manifested here and in the afterlife, so they expect good things on this earth. As Catholics it seems at times like we should shun earthly comforts and embrace violent pain and suffering. What do you think?
I'm very curious as to who writes these as they always seem to put "corn" in as a staple food -yet corn is native to North America. I doubt anyone in Europe or any part of the Old World had corn in the 600's.
Dear St. Martin, Daily I pray for your intercession to stand up for good and shun evil!
What a fantastic man. A brillant Pope and a worthy soldier of Christ. What an example to us all.
Anthony
What an inspirational message to us all, especially in these times. Pope Saint Martin I, pray for us, that we may have the courage to stand up for what is right and to defend our Faith at all cost.
Heroes of God. Worth emulating. I am sure he is now having a ball in our Father's kingdom.