Rising Gibbous

The waxing moon will come gibbous this evening, always a pleasing juncture for me…it looks well fed, successful, shows ambition and purpose, puffs out a sense of well-being; maybe you can even call it reward from the efforts of it’s minnow-days as a sliver. Not only will it rise gibbous tonight, but this is the season of Verao de Sao Martinho, so it will hang in clear heavens for all to see.

Verao de Sao Martinho, The Summer of Saint Martin, comes from a first century AD historic event. Martin of Tours, as he was later known, was a Roman soldier born in what is now Hungary, but was raised in Italy by pagan parents. At some point he converted to Christianity and became very avid.

He fought in France and on a return march to Italy while crossing the Alps in foul weather, took pity on a suffering stranger and gave the man half his cloak, saving him from dying of exposure. And his legend was born, for immediately the sun came out and the Earth warmed as in summer for three days. Martin being a monomaniacal Christian in the way of so many converts, knew who had done this and as soon as he could, made his way to Tours where he founded the oldest Christian monastery in Europe at a French commune called Ligug’e. There, he lived in the service of others and ministered to the most unfortunate as the Bishop of Tours. What a guy.

Sao Martinho died on the 11th of November and was buried after three days to commemorate his days of summer as well as to fix his Saint’s Day. Seems to me he might be one of the very deserving saints.
Of course we’ve smeared old Marty’s tale with our scientific knowledge of the meteorological conditions that occur in the northern hemisphere in Autumn in which atmospheric heat loss and heat gain must reach equilibrium through an atmospheric adjustment, in most years resulting in a few days of summer-like weather. But it is much livelier and romantic to think of kind soldier Martin keeping that freezing man alive through an act of kindness as the true reason my new-gibbous moon will be seen this evening, will shine on roads that may well have been traveled by Martin and on which I walked just today.