“Martin preached in season and out of season; he addressed not only the crowds, but also smaller groups, and it was through his initiative that parishes sprang up. Even today tourists who travel through France are amazed to discover that it is practically impossible to find a village without its own steeple—a steeple that is a summit, but also a voice, a voice that calls and gathers and spreads news.”
—Régine Pernoud, Martin of Tours: Soldier, Bishop, and Saint (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006), p 95
[Image: Detail from “Les Bords de l’Oise” by Charles-François Daubigny (1873)]