RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Martigny Martin of Braga
he was unanimously elected pope, after the deposition of John XXIII., Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII. Thus the unity of the Church was restored after the forty years' schism (see Schism). Martin was filled with the idea of a papal autocracy, a regeneration of ancient Roman imperialism consistently applied to the papacy. There was no means of harmonizing that autocratic ideal with the ideas of the reformers of the council; but Martin had the prudence to avoid an open conflict. He never confessed his adherence to the decrees of the council, and thwarted the plan of a uniform reform of the Church by the innovation of national concordats. He left Constance May 16, 1418, but was not able to enter Rome till Sept. 28, 1420. He found the States of the Church in the most desolate condition, but owing to his energy and tenacity they were soon restored in their former extent. In conformity with a decree of the Council of Constance that a new council be called within five years, he called a council at Pavia in 1423, which was immediately transposed to Siena. Here, as at Constance, antipapal tendency began to spread, and Martin found it advisable to dissolve the assembly, using the small attendance and the dissension of the powers as a pretext. He intended to satisfy the reformers by a bull issued on May 16, 1425, but the demand for a general council became more urgent. The future council was to be held at Basel; but Martin showed no indulgence, being a decided opponent of conciliarism. He died suddenly at Rome Feb. 20, 1431. (B. Bess.)
Bibliography: The early sources for a life are collected in L. A. Muratori, Rerum Italicarum scriptores, iii. 2, pp. 857-868, 1121-22, 25 vols., Milan, 1723-51. Martin's bulls are in Mansi, Concilia, vol. xxviii. Consult A. von Reumont, Geschichte der Stadt Rom, ii. 1162 sqq., iii. 56 sqq., Berlin, 1868-70; B. Jungmann, Dissertationes selectee, vol. vi., Regensburg, 1886; Funk, in TQ, lxx (1888), 451-465; F. Bernet, in Revue des questions historioues, li (1892), 373-423; H. C. Lea, Hist, of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, passim, vols, i.-iii., New York, 1906; Pastor, Popes, i. 208-282; Creighton, Papacy, ii. 100-163; Bower, Popes, iii. 201-218; Milman, Latin Christianity, vii. 513-535; Platina, Popes, ii. 200-213; and much of the literature under Constance, Council of. A list of scattered notices may be consulted in Hauck-Herzog, RE, xii. 382-383.
MARTIN OF BRAGA: Spanish bishop of the sixth century; b. in Pannonia about 510; d. about 580. Knowledge of his life is based on a few scattered notices in his own works and in those of his contemporaries Gregory of Tours and Venantius Fortunatus, with a little help from Isidore of Seville. He became a monk, acquired, for his time, great learning, especially in Greek, and visited the East, including the Holy Land. Falling in with some Spanish pilgrims, he was determined by them to go to Galicia and devote himself to the conversion of the partly Arian, partly half-pagan population. He arrived in Spain about 550 and was soon made a bishop, according to Gregory, although he may have spent some time in founding monasteries, especially that of Dumio, over which he presided as abbot and later as bishop. In the latter capacity he was present at the Synod of Braga in May, 561. Later he became archbishop of Braga or Bracara, and presided as such over the second (incorrectly called third) synod there in 572. As a missionary,
an ecclesiastical organizer, and an intermediary of Christian culture between East and West, he was one of the most remarkable and influential men of the latter half of the sixth century. The position which he held is evidenced not only by the work done by him in the two synods of Bracara, but by the frequent requests of King Miro for his counsel and by the visits of Spanish and foreign bishops for the same end.
Martin's most important work is his Collectio orientalium carwnum sive Capitula Martini (Mansi, Concilia, ix. 845 sqq.), a systematic arrangement of Eastern (and a few Western) canons, with a view to giving a more correct and intelligible version of the Greek canons, as a guide to the legislation of his own day and country. The Epistola ad Bonifatium de trina mersione (Collectio maxima conciliorum Hispania, ii. 506, Rome, 1693) answers the question of a Spanish bishop whether baptism was administered in his province with not only a threefold immersion but a threefold repetition of the formula, which would seem to carry a suspicion of Arianism, by saying that the formula was used only once, but asserting the orthodoxy of the threefold immersion. The small treatise De pascha (Gallandi, Bibliotheca veterum patrum, xii. 287 sqq., 14 vols., Venice, 1765-81) defends the practise of making Easter a movable feast, and mentions it as an old custom of the Gallican Church to celebrate it on Mar. 25, the traditional date of the actual resurrection. Ethical treatises extant include Formula vita honesta, De differentiis quatuor virtutum and De ira (all in Gallandi, xii. ut sup.), of which the first two enter the province of philosophic morality, with Seneca for their model; in fact, they have been more than once printed as works of Seneca. The Formula gives a picture of the Christian life, adapted especially for the laity, on the moderate lines of the four cardinal virtues. His ascetic works include a collection of Sentential patrum JEgyptiorum (MPL, lxxiv. 381 sqq.), translated by Martin from the Greek, and a similar compilation from the old monastic traditions of the Egyptian desert, Verba seniorum (MPL, lxxiii. 1025 sqq.). Mention must also be made of a sermon, De correctione rusticorum (MPL, lxxii. 21-52; first complete ed. by Caspari, ut inf.), which has considerable historical interest. It was written to correct the tendency of the rural population to pagan superstitions. The gods of the heathen, he says, are but demons, of whom there are a number in rivers, and fountains, and forests, venerated by ignorant rustics, who also employ superstitious practises like augury and magic. God sent his Son " to lead them back from the error of the devil to the worship of the true God; and after he had taught, he was pleased to die for the human race." The Christian is to win the kingdom of God by good works; otherwise he will fall into damnation by evil works. In baptism he has renounced the devil and promised faith in God. Superstition is the abandonment of this faith and the breach of this compact. No sign is permits ted to the Christian except the sign of the cross, no incantation except the creed and the Lord's Prayer. No one should doubt the mercy of God, but do penance; and true penance is " that a man
Martin of Tours Martineau