Marjiam (Martial, Jabez)

By his real name Jabes, he is the grandson of an unfortunate peasant from Doras, who became a slave to this cruel master. His parents (Jean and Marie) and his brothers died in a landslide. His grandfather took him in and hid him in the woods to prevent him from being chased away or meeting the same fate as him. Then he entrusted him to Jesus.

Jabés receives from the Virgin Mary a new name: Margziam, the name of Mary said in the "ancient language."- This quickly becomes "Marziam" for easier pronunciation.

With Mary's help, the apostle Peter obtains from Jesus to make him his adoptive son. It is a great joy for the child, Peter and his wife Porphirea.

Margziam is twelve years old and appears frail due to the hardships he endured. He alternates stays with Porphirea, his adoptive mother, and apostolic journeys following his adoptive father. He shows abilities that make him a prodigious disciple.

Determined, he takes the means of his decisions: he fasts to obtain graces: he refrains from honey for four weeks to obtain the healing of young Rachel of Cana. He also decides to redeem his grandfather's freedom by saving through sacrifices or extra labor. Unfortunately, his grandfather dies of exhaustion before the project is completed.

Despite his young Age, he proves to be a remarkable preacher, readily applying the teachings of Jesus. At the first multiplication of the loaves, thanks to his faith, he is the first to take a basket and witness the miracle. He delivers his first preaching in the presence of Jesus. He then obtains his first miracle for the young Rachel of Cana, at her poor grandmother's.

Young Marziam is particularly tested by mourning and separations, notably that of John of Endor his tutor who used to write down Jesus' speeches for him. He is affected but keeps his courage.

Because of his young age, Jesus keeps him away from Jerusalem at the time of his Passion. He also does not benefit from the vision of the Resurrected and believes he has fallen into disgrace. Yet, on Mount Tabor, Jesus reassures him:

"My most beloved among all the Disciples, do you not think that I have gone to strengthen wavering faiths? What need was there to come to you, child, whose faith, hope, charity, will and obedience are known to me?"

He gives him the name Martial in memory of a little Roman martyred:

"This name, oh Martial, indicates your future destiny: be an apostle in barbarian lands and convert them to your Lord."

Margziam, now Martial, follows Peter leaving Palestine. He will be martyred according to the prophecy of Jesus.

His name

Yabes: "he causes suffering" - Margziam is of an origin close to Myriam said in "ancient language" and Martial is related to Mars the God of War.

Where is he mentioned in the work?

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Learn more about this character

Excerpts from the Dictionary of Gospel characters, Salton Maria Valtorta (Mgr René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Éditions Salvator, 2012):

An ancient tradition (The acts of St Urcin) associates Martial with six other bishops sent by Saint Peter to evangelize Gaul. In the 6th century, an ode by Saint Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers confirms Martial as "contemporary of Peter," and states he was "native of the tribe of Benjamin," as indicated by Maria Valtorta.

Martial was declared "apostle of Aquitaine" by Pope Clement VI (14th century).

In the 16th century, Baronius notes that Peter "sent Martial to the region of Limoges, Toulouse, and Bordeaux."

But in the 17th century, Canon Descordes sought to separate popular beliefs from history. He supports the idea that no Church in France predates the mid-3rd century. Saint Martial, disciple of Saint Peter, is classified among pious legends.

Two centuries later, Abbé François Arbellot, honorary canon of Limoges, revisited historical sources (See extracts below or online pages) allowing the emergence of the character echoed by Maria Valtorta. He would have died in 71 "the 40th year after Jesus' Ascension, in the 3rd year of Vespasian."

Saint Martial: between historicity and legend

The life and martyrdom of Saint Martial overlap with that of a namesake from the 3rd century, apostle of Aquitaine and Limousin in France. This results in an incoherent biography which logically becomes legendary.

Canon Descordes, a scientific figure of Limousin in the 17th century, postulates that Saint Martial, evangelizer of Limoges, dates from the 3rd century. Hypothesis retained by the Diocese of Limoges.

Other sources place this city under the patronage of a Martial, contemporary of Jesus. He is among the seventy-two Disciples, he participated in the multiplication of the loaves. He was related to the apostle Peter.

Maria Valtorta gives credit to an historical memory and separates the legendary part born from the confusion between the contemporary of Jesus, supported by many ancient texts, and a namesake from the 3rd century. These are obviously two persons, homonyms merged into one by the piety of the early faithful of Limousin.

Regarding the assertions made in the different texts, Maria confirms (and sometimes corrects):

• Martial is a true contemporary of Jesus,
• He is truly related to Peter: he is his adoptive son,
• He truly followed the apostolic group in its travels,
• He truly participated in the multiplication of the loaves: the first,
• He truly was part of the seventy-two Disciples sent on mission, but not in the primitive core,
• He was present at the Ascension where he receives the name Martial,
• He indeed was "apostle in barbarian lands", but Maria Valtorta neither confirms nor denies that this is Limousin (France),
• He truly suffered martyrdom, earlier than Peter's if the phrase is interpreted correctly: "A day will come when Simon Peter will rejoice knowing that his Margziam was imprisoned, beaten, scourged, put in peril of death, and that he would have the courage to extend his hand on the gibbet to clothe him with the purple of Heaven and to fertilize the earth with his martyr blood, envying his fate and suffering for one sole reason: not to be in the place of his son".
• Maria Valtorta does not confirm:
• The presence of Martial at the Last Supper: he was kept away from the Passion by Jesus.

Defense of Martial contemporary with Christ

Excerpts from: "Dissertation on the apostleship of Saint Martial and on the antiquity of the Churches of France" - Abbé François Arbellot, honorary canon of Limoges – 1855:

[…]

Life of Saint Martial written in Greek - Church dedicated to Saint Martial near Ramah (Judea) in Palestine

110> The East, from which Saint Martial departed to come preach in Gaul, according to Gregory of Tours himself, testifies to his apostleship through its traditions and monuments. Several of these traditions are recorded in the two councils of Limoges: we will mention only one.

Before the 11th century, in the East, there was a Life of Saint Martial written in Greek, where this apostle of Aquitaine was said to be one of the seventy-two Disciples. Listen on this point to the solemn legal testimony of a learned cleric from Angoulême who accompanied the bishop of that city, Rohon, to the second council of Limoges: "May this holy assembly kindly listen to me: some years ago, two monks from Mount Sinai, serious men of exemplary life, learned in Catholic doctrine, versed in Greek and Latin languages, came to the West by Providence’s disposition.

111> As they stayed long in Angoulême awaiting the city's prince, we, seeing their perfect knowledge of Greek and Latin letters, took care to ask them this question, and we asked them if the Orientals knew Saint Martial. Both Simeon and Côrne answered unanimously: "Certainly, we know the apostle Martial, one of the seventy-two!" – And when we said: "We know no other Apostles than the twelve!" – "Do you, they replied, have in these Western Churches the evangelist Saint Luke, who writes that after the twelve Apostles, seventy-two others were chosen by the Lord?" - We replied that we had Saint Luke's Gospel, but we considered these seventy-two not as Apostles but only as Disciples. - Then, distancing themselves from us and signing themselves with the cross, they cursed our words, saying: "Depart, unhappy ones, for you are heretics, since you do not believe the Lord's words who said to the seventy-two: Go, I send you as lambs among wolves. How! you do not consider as Apostles those sent by the Lord to preach the Gospel? The Greeks, they added, have always been more learned than the Latins, and Latin writings derive from the Greek source. We know that Saint Martial is one of the seventy-two who went West with Saint Peter to preach the Gospel and we have his Acts, written in our language, in our monastery of Mount Sinai."

112> This monk Simeon, coming to the West from the Mount Sinai monastery, died in Trier on June 1, 1035 and was placed by the Church among the saints a few years later (1042). "He is, says Fleury, one of the greatest saints of the 11th century." A collegiate church was built in Trier at the site of his cell and tomb. "God preserve me," exclaims Father Papebroch reporting the testimony of Saints Simeon and Cosmas, "God preserve me from suspecting the sincerity of these two men, and saying they spoke out of flattery or ambition! No doubt they drew these details from that ancient 'Life' we believe was consulted by Florus and carried by travelers from Europe to the East." Who knows, we might add, if this Life written in Greek, instead of being a mere translation, was an original life written in the East, the Homeland of Saint Martial?

If we believe a 16th-century cosmographer, tradition preserved in Palestine the knowledge of the place where Saint Martial was born. The author of the Cosmographie UniverSaltle, Andrew the Apostle Thévet claims to have seen, on his trip to Palestine, a Church built in honor of Saint Martial, near Ramah (Judea), at the place where tradition placed his birth. Let us quote his own words:

113> "Three leagues from Ramah (Judea), there is a cazal inhabited only by domestic Arabs, named in their language 'Arouha,' meaning 'spirit' and 'mirror' in the language of the natives, where one still sees an old Church formerly built in honor of St. Martial, native of this place, who having been baptized by Saint Peter, was sent to France even before Saint Denis. I was told that King Charlemagne had this Church built and endowed it with some rents."

If this Church of Saint Martial had not existed in the East, we do not see what interest Thévet would have had in inventing it. As for the construction of this Church in Charlemagne's time, this is plausible because capitularies show that this prince sent money to Jerusalem for the restoration of Churches. The first Capitular of the year 810 bears the title: "On almsgiving to be sent to Jerusalem for restoring Churches." Another Capitular is titled: "On almsgiving to be sent to Jerusalem to restore Churches at Christmas. Such a purpose was worthy of the piety of this great emperor, whom Einhard, his historian, says sent alms to poor Christians even as far as Syria, Egypt, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, and sought friendships with kings overseas, mainly to bring relief and support to Christians living under their dominion.

114> Thus it is not only Rome and Tuscany, where Saint Martial passed, that testify to his apostolic mission in the early age of Christianity: it is also the East, his Homeland, which recognizes him as a disciple of Saint Peter and a contemporary of the Apostles.

We do not claim to have given science its last word on the question of Saint Martial's apostleship; we are convinced that more extensive and in-depth research than ours will advance this discussion and shed full historical light on this traditional fact. We are persuaded that further research, whether in France in the Royal Library manuscripts, or in the most famous libraries of Italy and England, will discover new documents relating to this crucial question of the origins of Christianity in Gaul. We have seen the important role of Fortunatus' poem discovered in Florence at the end of the last century and unknown to critics who discussed the apostleship before us; we have appreciated the importance of manuscript pieces recently discovered by M. Faillon at the Royal Library: who knows what the future will reveal on this subject? The Vatican Library contains, in an 11th-century manuscript, a Life of Saint Martial different from the legend of AurElijahn, if we judge by the first lines transcribed for us by M. Abbé Ronard. This legend, unknown to all preceding critics, may bring new weight to the balance; in England, the library of St John Baptist College at Oxford holds a Life of Saint Martial which has not yet been examined: we thus gladly agree with the learned author of the Unpublished Monuments on the apostleship of saint Madeleine, M. Abbé Faillon, in a letter he kindly wrote to us:

115> "If I had to give advice to a writer who intended to clarify the origins of the Churches of Gaul, I would encourage him not to limit himself to French libraries, such as the King's Library in Paris, which contains nearly one hundred thousand manuscripts; I would urge him to pursue his research especially in England, whose libraries have not been explored by critics, especially regarding the history of saints. Since their schism, the English seem to have neglected all monuments related to saints' lives, still hidden in their libraries: I do not doubt that they contain precious treasures for Gaul, unknown today to our Churches.

If my position and duties had allowed me to spend a year in England, while I was working on the Unpublished Monuments, I would not have hesitated to conduct research there: the Life of Saint Madeleine by Raban Maur, of which we possess no copy in France, justifies what I say here. So, Sir, I believe that if you could explore the English libraries, you might make discoveries that would shed much light on the origin of our Churches and probably on the apostleship of Saint Martial."

If Providence, which employs us today in a laborious ministry, grants us some leisure someday, we hope to make new discoveries on this subject: meanwhile, we believe modern history must, as of now, overturn the judgment it made on Saint Martial's apostleship and assign without hesitation his Mission to the 1st century.

Summary - Conclusion

Here is a consistent tradition, positively established or indirectly confirmed by historical testimonies, going back century by century to the first Age of Christianity. In the 11th century, it was widespread, not only in all the Churches of Aquitaine that recognize Saint Martial as founder, but from one end of France to the other, in England and Italy, Constantinople and Palestine, i.e., throughout the Christian world. Irrefutable proofs are seen in councils held in Paris and Poitiers, in Bourges and Limoges, on the question of Saint Martial's apostleship at the beginning of the 11th century. - In the 10th century, the Churches of Bordeaux and Angoulême, Quercy and Burgundy, etc., add their testimonies to those of Limousin. - In the 9th century, our tradition is recorded in the Life of Saint Sacerdos, in the murals of Saint Sauveur, in the book of Miracles of Saint Martial, and in the writings of Raban Maur, archbishop of Mainz. - In the 7th century, our tradition is confirmed by the monk Florus, author of Additions to Bede's Martyrology; it is indirectly supported by the famous deacon Paul Warnefride, secretary to Didier, king of the Lombards. - In the 6th century, the legends of Saint Ausone and Saint Austremoine attribute without hesitation Saint Martial's Mission to the time of Saint Peter. In the 6th century, this tradition is found not only in the Church of Limoges but also in the Churches of Poitiers, Bourges, and Arles: it is only contradicted by a word of Gregory of Tours: however, after refuting this passage, one can judge how minor this contradiction is, and we have, to counterbalance Gregory of Tours, one of his most illustrious contemporaries, Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers, whose verses composed on the legend of Saint Martial prove that our tradition is older than Gregory of Tours. - Going further back, we find indirect support in a letter from Pope Innocent I. - In the 3rd and 2nd centuries, our tradition is indirectly confirmed by Tertullian and Saint Irenaeus, who affirm that, in their day, there were Christian Churches among "various nations of Gaul and the Celts."

Moreover, foreign monuments of undeniable authority give brilliant confirmation to our tradition: thus in the Roman Church, our tradition links to that of Saint Paul and Saint Luke; and is recorded in the old archives of Sainte Marie in Via Lata. In Tuscany, the Church of Saint Martial built near the city of Colle, on the tomb of Saint Austriclinien, and the traditional recollections attached; in the East, the Life of Saint Martial, written in Greek, found in the 10th century in the Mount Sinai monastery, which made the apostle of Aquitaine one of the seventy-two; then the Church of Saint Martial which the cosmographer Thévet assures to have seen, on his journey in Palestine, near Ramah (Judea) in the place where ancient tradition made the first bishop of Limoges born:

116> These are monuments, these are bundles of traditions which, agreeing with ours and mutually supporting, shed true historical light on Saint Martial's Mission at the time of the Apostles. This tradition is Catholic or universal: it is of all times and all places.

And one would want so many Churches, in Gaul and Italy, in England and Palestine, to have conspired to admit a historical fact with no foundation! - And one would want all the Churches of Aquitaine to have lost sight of so important a fact as their origin, the time of the Mission of their first apostle, and to have been deceived by the fabulous dream of some impostor! … But who will be persuaded that so many Churches, rivals of that of Limoges, admitted without dispute a fact that gave our Church such a superiority of origin? And how to suppose then that the error became so widespread? How to suppose that Aquitaine and France, Rome and Tuscany, the West and the East became accomplices of the lie, and unanimously agreed on a fabricated fact? How to explain that so many foreign Churches, perfectly disinterested in the question, render the same testimony? How to explain that so many witnesses, some of whom, as we saw, could not agree, make unanimous declarations on this point? - One must recognize with Tertullian that "a tradition that is the same in many places is not an error, fiction, or lie but a truth handed down orally." And that is why we will end this chapter with these words of the learned and illustrious de Marca, whom we are proud to find with us in this important discussion: "I have thought that our traditions, founded on the truth, must not be overthrown, but preserved: with all the more reason since they were received formerly in the Roman Church and throughout the Christian world."

Critical plea

Saint Martial of Limoges, - Annales du midi – page 289 and following – 1892 – Notice by L. Duchesne

This text, critical of Abbé Arbellot’s text above, also quotes historical sources, notably this one:

Adémar de Chabannes writes:

"Martial is a contemporary of Christ. The Savior having passed through the tribe of Benjamin, two Jews from this country, Marcel and Elisabeth, heard his preaching and were baptized by Saint Peter, along with their son Martial and others, including Zacchaeus (from Roc-Amadour) and Joseph of Arimathea. Young Martial (about fifteen years old then) attached himself to Saint Peter, with whom he was related, and henceforth followed the group of twelve Apostles. Thus, he witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus, the Last Supper, the washing of feet (he was the one holding the towel); he saw the Apostles touch the wounds of the risen Christ, ate with him, attended the Ascension and Pentecost, and thus received the same Mission and the same outpouring of the Holy Spirit. With Saint Peter, he preached at Antioch, then at Rome, where he brought some of their converts from Antioch, especially Alpinien and Austriclinien. After a while, Saint Peter sent him, along with these two companions, to evangelize the city of Limoges. On the way, i.e., at Else in Tuscany, the death and resurrection of Austriclinien took place..."

Other sources

According to this source, Martial (Margziam) is the child who distributed the loaves at the first multiplication of the loaves: From the History of the Archbishops of Bordeaux by Canon Lopès we take these notes: "Saint Martial is, according to tradition, the child whom the Savior blessed and about whom he said these touching words: "Let the little children come to me." He is also the one who carried the five barley loaves that Jesus multiplied in the desert.

Extraordinary assembly of representatives of the Catholic Church, convened to discuss and collectively decide on important issues.