Producing the Cream of the Crop: St. Martin of Tours and Training Christian Leaders

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Back-to-school days are upon us, and that usually leads to those of us in theological education to think carefully about what makes for the best environment for our students to thrive.

Of course, there are many ways to go about theological education and there is a long history of various trends, trajectories, and institutions in that field.[1] At various times there have been various schools that have been a magnet for those who are seeking to be trained by the best. As I blogged before, St. Finnian was a rock star professor in early medieval Ireland who had thousands seek him out.[2] More recently, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor who formed a small cluster of students to carry out covert training in an oppressive Nazi regime.[3] In other words, theological training comes in all shapes and sizes.
 
I just finished reading the Life of Martin of Tours and was struck with yet another example of the training of leaders. In this case, it was lived out in monastic circumstances. 
 
St. Martin is one of the most famous saints in France (over 4,000 parishes are named after him in France, as well as countless churches all over the world). He played a key role in the establishment of monasticism in the West.
 
Martin served over twenty years as a soldier in the Roman army in Gaul (France), and then left the army and, like a growing number of people seeking the monastic life, went to a secluded island and lived in isolation. Martin eventually came back to civilization and served in a local parish as well as an assistant to a bishop. However, all he really wanted to do was live a quiet and anonymous life of peace, prayer, and humble service. 
 
Martin became a bishop against his will and, although he was a bishop, continued to live a life away from the wealth, pomp, and displays of power that were developing around its office. To stay true to his monastic ideals, he practiced solitude, communal eating and worship, poverty, simplicity, fasting, and a host of other spiritual disciplines. 
 
Here is a brief summary of that community as noted in Life of Martin of Tours:
 
“There was the same humility of heart, the same poverty of clothing. Full of authority and grace, he fulfilled the high office of bishop without abandoning his monastic commitment and virtue. For a time, therefore, he used a little cell adjoining the church; then when he could no longer bear the disturbance caused by those who flocked to see him, he built himself a cell some two miles outside the city. And the place was so remote and secluded that it was equal to the solitude of the desert. …Martin lived in a small cell made of wood and a number of the brothers lived in a similar manner, but most of them had made shelters for themselves by hollowing out the rock of the mountain which overlooked the place. There were about eighty disciples who had chosen to lead a life in accordance with their blessed headmaster’s example. No one there possessed anything of his own, everything was shared. They were not allowed to buy or sell anything.... No craft was practiced there, apart from that of the scribes; the young were set to this task while the older ones spent their time in prayer. It was rare for anyone to leave his own cell except when they gathered at the place of prayer. They all receive their food together after the period of fasting. No one drank any wine unless illness forced him to do so. Most of them were dressed in camel skin garments: they considered the wearing of any other material to be reprehensible. This is all the more remarkable since many of them were said to be nobleman who had been brought up in a very different way but had voluntarily adopted this life of humility and endurance.” 
 
But who would want such people whose training was so austere and seemingly strange? It seems that many did! The above description ends with the following brief statement:
 
“What is most striking is that later we saw several of them become bishops. For what city or church did not long to have a priest from Martin's monastery?”
 
Apparently, the model of leadership demonstrated by St. Martin, and subsequently copied by his followers, created the cream of the crop of leaders highly prized by churches – and especially for those looking to fill the highest positions of ecclesiastical power.
 
What seminary or Christian school would not love to have that said of their graduates? What institution would not be thrilled to know that their alumni were deemed to be the “cream of the crop” of ministry candidates? For those institutions seeking such a privilege, one a way forward is to look back and learn from an ancient way of life and a humble leader.


[1] For a helpful history, see Justo Gonzalez, The History of Theological Education (2015). 

[2] https://www.gordonlheath.com/blog/st-finnian-a-rock-star-professor

[3] https://www.gordonlheath.com/blog/bonhoeffers-vision-for-theological-education