Page "Military saint" Paragraph 4

In Late Antiquity other Christian writers of hagiography, like Sulpicius Severus in his account of the heroic, military life of Martin of Tours, created a literary model that reflected the new spiritual, political, and social ideals of a post-Roman society.

In a recent study of Anglo-Saxon soldier saints ( Damon 2003 ), J. E.

Damon has demonstrated the persistence of Sulpicius's literary model in the transformation of the pious, peaceful saints and willing martyrs of late antique hagiography to the Christian heroes of the early Middle Ages, who appealed to the newly-converted societies led by professional warriors and who exemplified accommodation with and eventually active participation in holy wars that were considered just.

A similar development in the cult of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki has been observed ; although always described as a soldier, depictions of him were in civilian dress for centuries until around the turn of the millennium, after which he is nearly always shown fully armed.