Martial of Limoges

Saint Martial of Limoges is regarded as the first bishop of Limoges in France, and as the "Apostle of the Limousin" or of Aquitaine. The Western calendars place him in the third century, around 250, and add two of his priests, Alpinian and Austriclinian.

His origin is uncertain; a medieval hymn calls him of high-⁠born Jewish descent, come from the East. According to Gregory of Tours, in the time of the Emperor Decius Pope Fabian sent seven bishops from Rome to preach in Gaul: Gatian to Tours, Trophimus to Arles, Paul to Narbonne, Saturninus to Toulouse, Denis to Paris, Austremonius to Clermont and Martial to Limoges. According to the Golden Legend, when he entered Limoges he was beaten by the priests of the temple and imprisoned, but at his morning prayer the next day a great light surrounded him and the bars and chains burst open; the guards asked to be baptized by him. He converted the inhabitants of the city.

His tomb became a place of pilgrimage, and in the ninth century Benedictine monks took charge of it, making Saint-⁠Martial one of the great pilgrimage churches of the West, with a renowned library and scriptorium. In the tenth century an elaborate hagiography grew up that had Peter himself send him into Gaul. The abbey was razed in the nineteenth century. He is commemorated on 30 June as a saint of the undivided Church, by the New Calendar.