March 20
Martin Dumiense (515–580)
Monk
Like that other more famous Martin, the one from Tours, he was born in what is now Hungary and was a monk in Palestine, where he must have become familiar with the spirituality of the desert fathers, about which he later composed a kind of summary as a teaching.
Biography
He was a very learned man and knew Greek and Latin well, and mastered pagan authors such as Cicero and Seneca. Moved by the impulse of the Holy Spirit, he undertook a long journey. He was first in Rome, then visited Gaul and ended up in Galicia, Spain, where he achieved the conversion of King Theodomir, who was an Arian. In the year 550 he founded the monastery of Dumio, near Braga, Portugal and became archbishop of that city. His epitaph summarizes his life and work: “He restored religion and sacred things.”
Practical advice
With simplicity and joy, exercise authority as a service and not as a privilege, doing everything for the love of God.