The tombs of St. Martin and the Saints who lay near him were destroyed by the Huguenots, and their relics were burned. Portions were saved, and in the new basilica of St. Martin, close to the site of the old basilica, there is a noble crypt with a reproduction of the massive tomb of St. Martin.[202] On the wall is an inscription to the following effect:
Nomina corporum sanctorum quæ hic sepulta erant circa tumulum Beati Martini.
SS. Briccius, Spanus, Perpetuus, Gregorius Tur., Eustochius, Eufronius, quorum venerabiles reliquiæ in capsis existentes ab hæreticis impiissime in dicta ecclesia fuerunt combustæ anno 1562.
| Eustochius | Briccius | |
| Perpetuus | MARTINUS | Spanus martyr |
| Gregorius | Eufronius |
Sic erant corpora horum in ecclesia B. Martini Tur. ordinata.
The Rue des Halles runs right through the site of the old basilica. The new basilica lies at right angles to the old one, its axis lying north and south, an arrangement which places the modern confessio, with its reproduction of the old tomb, practically on the site of the old confessio.
The connexion of St. Martin with Tours came about in this way. He was born about 316, a native of Lower Hungary; had a taste for the monastic life; was compelled by edict to become a soldier; served for three years up to the age of eighteen; went to visit Hilary at Poitiers; after some years came again to Hilary, and founded the monastery of Lugugé, near Poitiers, said to have been the first monastic institution in Gaul. His reputation stood so high that in 371 he was elected by the populace to the bishopric of Tours, much against his will. He built the monastery of Marmoutier, Maius Monasterium, about two miles to the north-east of the walls of Tours, where a large number of students received an education in such learning as then was known. His time was mostly spent in conversion of the pagans in his diocese. At the age of eighty, in 396, he was called to Condate to settle an ecclesiastical dispute, was seized with fever, and died. It was just at that time that his great admirer, Ninian, was finishing his stone church at Whithern, in Galloway, and to Martin he dedicated it. From that time, and owing to the connexion between Britain and Gaul, dedications to St. Martin were frequent, as is instanced by the old British church of St. Martin at Canterbury.
Plate III
St. Martin’s, Tours; the Tour Charlemagne, with the dome of the new St. Martin’s on the left. To face p. 212.