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On Mon, 30 Jun 1997, CA. Muessig wrote: > Today, 30 June, is the feast of ... > > * Martial, bishop of Limoges (c. 250) - an eleventh-century vita claims > that he was one of the seventy-two disciples of Jesus; A sollemnity so little observed in these lax times! It was Bernard Gui OP who tried to make a complete list of the original disciples, and he certainly included Martial; but the 11th-century vita, almost certainly by Ademar of S. Martial, made him much more: a relative of S. Peter, converted out of the tribe of Benjamin by the preaching of Jesus, it seems Martial would have been an apostle but for his young age. The Limousin popes of Avignon, led by Clement VI, relied on the apostolic legend and embroidered it further. In the S. Martial chapel of the palace at Avignon, one sees Jesus instructing the Twelve at Capharnaum, using young Martial as a living example of humility, "Unless you become like this little one ..." Daniel Williman Binghamton U. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%