Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/281

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Martin
275
Martin

Trévoux, 1701, pp. 247–60). On 26, 29, and 31 Jan. 1688, he delivered his theses for the decree of doctor of theology at Louvain, but his extreme opinions caused fifty-three bachelors of theology to protest against his admission; the influence, however, of Tanara, the nuncio, to whom Martin had dedicated the first of his theses, prevailed, and Martin received the degree. Soon afterwards the Archbishop of Malines appointed him to teach divinity in his seminary at Malines, where Martin published a thesis on Genesis attacking St. Augustine. This was condemned at Rome, and by the chapter of Malines, and another thesis reflecting upon the university of Louvain called forth protests from that body. In March 1690 he was prohibited from exercising his functions in the university, but on his petition the prohibition was removed 17 Aug. of the same year. In 1694, in spite of the protests of the faculty, he was made regius professor of holy scripture at Louvain, became censor of books, archiepiscopal examiner in the archdiocese, vice-president of the College du Saint-Esprit, and a member of the body of eight who formed the regents of the faculty of theology, and was installed a canon of St. Peter's collegiate church of Louvain. He won considerable reputation as a teacher; his intellect was active and memory quick; he befriended his exiled countrymen and gave liberally to the poor; but he was endowed with the litigious character of his family (Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 3rd ser. vii. 1101), and continual legal troubles seriously hindered his work.

In 1712 some friends sent him a copy of Tillotson's sermon on the 'Hazard of Salvation in the Church of Rome,' with a request that Martin would reply to it. This called forth his chief work, the 'Scutum Fidei contra Hoereses hodiernas,' Louvain, 1714, 8vo. Martin's ultramontane views had apparently been modified, and in the hope of conciliating and converting his opponents he took this opportunity of recommending English catholics not to press their claims to their forfeited property; it is dedicated to a former pupil of Martin's, Dr. Henry Joseph Van Sustern, bishop of Bruges: four copies are preserved in the Galway Diocesan Library; there is one in the British Museum, and another in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. Soon afterwards Martin began a correspondence with Edward Synge, archbishop of Tuam, concerning a proposed union of catholics and protestants (Add. MS. 6117, pp. 145-148). The archbishop said that notwithstanding his popish education Martin seemed 'to have preserved something of freedom in his judgment,' and 'to mean well at bottom,' Martin spent his last years in the Collegium Buslidianum. In 1720 he published his 'Motivum Juris pro Bullae Unigenit us Orthodoxia,' Louvain, 8vo, and in 1721 'Brevis Tractatus circa prsetensam Pontificis Infallibilitatem,' Ixmvain, 8vo; he suffered from calculus, and died on 4 Oct. 1722 from the effects of an operation performed at St. John's Hospital, Bruges. He was buried in the chapel of the hospital, with an inscription on his tomb; but his enemies composed and circulated the following epitaph: 'Ex gratia speciali, Mortuus est in Hospitali, Doctor F. Martin, 4 Octobris 1722, Expectans judicium, R.I.P.'

Besides the works already mentioned Martin wrote: 1. 'Refutatio Justificationis editæ pro defendenda doctrina Henrici Denys,' Louvain, 1700, 4to. 2. 'Statera Quæstionis an ad fidem pertineat Sanctis in cœlo notas esse mortalium preces,' Louvain, 1710, 8vo; a thesis entitled 'Via Pacis,' and numerous others which are said to be preserved at Brussels.

[Works in Brit. Mus. Library; Addit. MS. 61 17, pp. 145-8; L'Etat Present de la Théologie de Louvain, Trevoux, 1701, contains an exhaustive polemic against Martin; a more favourable account is given in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 3rd ser. vii. 1100-6; Ware's Ireland,, ii. 281.]

A. F. P.

MARTIN, FREDERICK (1830–1883), miscellaneous writer, born at Geneva on 19 Nov. 1830, was educated at Heidelberg; he settled in England at an early age. For some years subsequent to 1856 he was secretary and amanuensis to Thomas Carlyle, whom he aided in his historical researches; his knowledge of German and capacity for work made him very useful. He died on 27 Jan. 1883 at his house in Lady Margaret Road, N.W., leaving a widow and family.

Martin started a short-lived biographical magazine called 'The Statesman,' in which he began an account of Carlyle's early life, but as the latter did not approve, he discontinued it. He inaugurated the 'Statesman's Year-Book' in 1864, and in 1879 Lord Beaconsfield, struck by its usefulness, conferred upon him a pension of 100l. a year. He continued to supervise his 'Year-Book' till December 1882, when he was compelled by ill-health to give it up, and it was undertaken by Mr. J. Scott Keltie. He wrote largely for various papers, and was an occasional contributor to the 'Athenæum.'

Martin contributed a memoir of Chatterton, prefixed to an edition of the latter's 'Poems' (1865), superintended a new edition of MacCulloch's 'Geographical Dictionary' (1866), contributed vol. ii. of 'The