The Saint

Martial was born in the Orient; he was sent forth by a Roman Pontiff to evangelise our region, probably at the end of the third century. He made his way from Bourges to Limoges by the Roman road. According to Sidoine Apollinaire, the Bishop of Clermont, who died in 488, Martial was to be consacrated Bishop of the City of the Lemovices. About the year 576,Grégoire de Tours mentions that Saint Sernin was sent to the Gauls with six other bishops, Martial being one of them, during the Consular government of Dèce and Gratus (circa 270). Martial was attended by the oriental priests, Alpinien and Austriclinien. Martial's companions were to outlive him and be buried with him in a basilica-crypt built on the site of a former Gallo-Roman graveyard located outside the City, as was then the custom. The City was Augustoritum, or more precisely, Civitas Lemovicum, where he died and was buried. When his sepulchre became the place of a special cult, the Bishop assigned a few clerics for its service. The name of the Saint is first mentioned in Saint Aredius's (i.e.Saint Yrieix) will, in relation to a donation on behalf of the clerics.
In 848, the clerics became members of a religious order. This was the origin of Saint-Martial Abbey, which was to become a great pilgrimage centre throughout the 11th and 12th centuries. Within the abbey-church precincts, the number of religious associations increased over the years. The Confraternity of the Sepulcre was one of them; it was to become the Great Confraternity of Saint Martial thanks to the initiative of fourteen notables of the City.Thus, the existence of the confraternity was acknowledged well before-its official recognition by King John the Second (1356) and its approval by a Bull of Pope Innocent the Sixth in 1360. It was to suffer from the Religious wars of the 16th century and the liquidation of all religious associations in 1792. It was re-established in 1806 and is now governed by the 1901 legislation on associations. Its articles have been updated in 1989; nevertheless, they maintain its original purpose, namely the study of the life and teaching of the saint, together with the preservation of his memory.
In theory, the Confraternity comprises seventy-two members, all men, the number of disciples sent forth by Christ into the world. It is their duty to attend three conventions each year, participate in such religious feasts as Low Sunday, Saint Martial Day on the 30th of June, the Shrine Bearers' Feast and special church services, among which five regular monthly Masses said on behalf of the Confraternity, a Mass said for the deceased on All Saints Day and the commemoration, on the 12th of November, of the Miracle which took place in 994 (see below). Besides, they are under the obligation to join in the feasts of the other confraternities in the Limousin area.
The association is chaired by a Bailiff and a Deputy Bailiff assisted by six councillors, the six of them being elected for a two-year term and eligible to stand for office one more term only. A secretary, a treasurer and an archivist are also elected for two years but can be re-elected ad libitum.
Every seven years, it is the Association's responsability to organise the Great Feast of the "Ostensions", with processions and the relics of the local saints being displayed. It is also the Association's privilege to hoist its banner on top of Saint-Michael's steeple. As the guardian of the relics of its patron saint, it perpetuates their memory throughout the ages.
In 1960, archeological digs were carried out Place de la République, the former location of Saint-Martial Abbey, before it was demolished. They exhumed the saint's burial place, his stone coffin and that of St Valérie. 

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