Today is November 11, the Feast of St. Martin of Tours. His hagiography his readily available online (just look him up) but one thing that intrigued me about him is one particular aspect of it. He is frequently referred to as a “Patron St. of Reformed Alcoholics.” 

I have no idea why, except for references to November 11th being a German holiday involving ‘winecorking,’ which centuries ago involved much drinking and carousing and so on, before beginning a 40 day fast (“St. Martin’s Fast,” or “St. Martin’s Lent.” This gradually evolved to become “Advent.”)

OK, so today is like a Carnival (Shrove Tuesday, or the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of traditional Lent in February or March) and people celebrated like crazies and did all sorts of naughty things before settling down to a rigorous, penitential fast to atone for that. I still have no clue as to what this has to do with ‘reformed alcoholics,’ unless the proto-Advent inspired people to reconsider their abuse of alcohol. 

If anyone has any substantive sources with citations, please post them in the comments, or email me. (I’ll edit and update this post as needed.

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