three men named martin

often here in the home where i live i speak in passing to our former director, martin armanderez, who still lives here in retirement.  martin always says hello, and in response i usually say hi, martin; and then i think back some sixty years ago when, here in fort worth, we had two episcopal clergyman named martin.  one was mr. martin, who was the rector of saint andrew's episcopal church in downtown fort worth.  saint andrew's is what used to be referred to as low church.  that is, it was somewhat more protestant and less obviously ceremonial than the more catholic episcopal churches, a division that goes back not just to pioneer times, but to divisions in the nineteenth century church of england which is the mother church of the episcopal.  at any rate, mr. martin preferred not to be called father martin, but mister.  at about the same time, the rector of saint luke's in the meadow episcopal church in east fort worth was a father martin who was rather high church, as was st. luke's at that time.  it has been said that one day mr. martin encountered father martin on the streets of downtown fort worth where they greeted one another, one saying, "hi, martin", and the other responding "'lo, martin".  it is just a coincidence that our former director here in east fort worth is named martin, but is it entirely a coincidence that the personification of the anglican church in jonathan swift's "a tale of a tub" is called martin also, perhaps in deference to martin luther, the initiating figurehead of the protestant reformation, although not necessarily of classical anglicanism.  it might be worth noting however that the american episcopal church maintains very close relations to american lutheranism.  that's one more martin for the story.