There is an eerie beauty in the grim November chill that shakes the final vestiges of autumn from the trees. It evokes a sense of “saudade,” a Portuguese word for deep nostalgia and longing for what used to be. But in the midst of that longing, the barren scene acts as a foil that brings into sharp relief the last traces of color that do remain.
Then suddenly, mid-November, we are reminded of what we long for with the arrival of what the Italians call “l’estate di San Martino” (St. Martin’s summer). St. Martin of Tours was born around A.D. 336 in what is now Hungary and was brought up in northern Italy. He served as a soldier until he became a conscientious objector and was eventually named bishop of Tours.
