Saint Martin of Vienne was the legendary third

bishop of Vienne The Archbishopric of Vienne, named after its episcopal seat in Vienne in the Isère département of southern France, was a metropolitan Roman Catholic archdiocese. It is now part of the Archdiocese of Lyon. History The legend according to wh ...

, in France, believed to have lived in the 2nd (or 3rd) century. He is venerated as a saint by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

, with a

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

celebrated locally in Vienne on 1 July. Although he is mentioned in the 8th century by Archbishop Ado in his ''Chronicles'',Adon de Vienne, ''Chronique'', VI, col. 86D4.3, in ''Vienne dans les textes grecs et latins'', Gérard Lucas, pp.247–270, 2016
online version)
/ref> it has since been questioned whether he ever existed. A district and a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

in the old town of Vienne are named after him, as is the town of

Saint-Martin-l'Ars Saint-Martin-l'Ars () is a commune in the Vienne department and Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of western France. Geography The Clouère flows north-northwest through the middle of the commune. The Clain flows northwest through the south-western pa ...

, in the department of Vienne.''Le Patrimoine des communes de la Vienne en 2 tomes'' – Édition FLOHIC – 2002 –

References

3rd-century bishops in Gaul Bishops of Vienne Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{France-RC-bishop-stub