Ann Sieben in the footsteps of Saint Martin through France

You were a nuclear engineer. What prompted you to leave this job and get started on the road?

In 2007, I took a sabbatical year, to make a break in my life. For my work, I had already traveled a lot and lived outside the United States, Germany, England, Eastern Europe. But this time, I wanted to travel differently: not for work, nor as a tourist, but on a pilgrim.

My family is very Catholic, and my grandmother, Irish, transmitted her passion for the saints to me. So I started with one of the most important pilgrimages for Catholics: towards the tomb of Saint Peter by the Via Francigena. I started from Canterbury before Christmas and arrived in Rome for Holy Week. It was a difficult and lonely pilgrimage, because in winter I did not meet any pilgrim; But it was an exceptional moment, and founder for the rest of my life.

Indeed ! Since then, you have traveled more than 8,8000 km on foot, in 56 different countries. Or the equivalent of twice around the world. A world record, right?

No doubt, but it was not my motivation. After this first pilgrimage, I phoned my boss to ask him if I could take another sabbatical year. It was granted to me. This time, still in winter, I started from the tomb of Charlemagne, in Aix-la-Chapelle (Germany), to Saint-Jacques-de-Compostela (Spain).

Then I phoned my business again … to ask for a third sabbatical year! I then walked in the footsteps of Saint André de kyiv (Ukraine) in Patras (Greece). 6000 km, across 5 countries, for five months. The following year, I made the same distance from Denver (Colorado) to Notre-Dame-de-Guadalupe (Mexico).

However, you were missing one of the three pilgrimages that were formerly called “”adults»» …

Yes, after Rome and Compostela, Jerusalem was missing! But with an American passport, it is impossible to move to Libya and Syria. So I started from Saint-Jacques-de-Compostela, then I crossed North Africa to reach the Holy Land. These 6 months of walking were tiring because of extreme heat, but I was rewarded in the hundredfold.

Alone in the cenacle, I felt an appeal of great strength and absolute clarity: my vocation was to continue to piller, begging for my roof and my food. It was a call for extreme counting, an invitation to have nothing to better serve God. When I understood this message, my soul was flooded with great peace.

Since 2021, you have a long walk on French territory each year to connect the 305 cities and villages which bear the name of Saint Martin. How did this idea come to you?

I lived for seven years in Germany, where Saint Martin is well known and also celebrated on November 11. So I wanted to walk in its footsteps, by connecting the important places in the history of this saint, in Ukraine, in Romania, in Hungary. I finished my journey in Tours, at Easter of the year 2018. There, chatting with enthusiasts of Saint Martin, a remark from one of them struck me: “In France, Saint Martin is very present in toponymy, more than all the other saints!” This simple sentence aroused in me the desire for a new pilgrimage.

How did you identify the names of these French municipalities?

Due to the Pandemic of La Covid 19, I interrupted my roaming for four months: the time to identify, on Google MAP, these 305 municipalities or old municipalities in France bearing the name of Martin, spread over 81 departments.

At the end of the series of confinements, I started my first journey. This project was going to take care of me for five years, three months of walking each winter. I am in the process of making the last of these Martinian wanderings, which will have allowed me to travel throughout France. For each of them, I traced a loop from Tours. I should arrive in the city where Saint Martin was bishop for the festivities of November 11.

How are your days going?

I get up early to make forty kilometers a day. In the stage, the mayor of the town, who was warned of my arrival, often welcomes me. On this occasion, I collect the town’s stamp on the goat skin that I carry, according to a tradition dating from the time of Charlemagne.

And every evening, I sleep with a different person! I only have seven or eight euros in my pocket, but I always had a roof to sleep and what to eat.

Do you go while walking?

I do not recite prayers, but all my steps are prayers. And I am connected with the saints of which I am traces: these are my fellow travelers.

What touches you with Saint Martin?

His life! Saint Martin lived in the 4th century. Most of the saints, before him, were canonized by popular piety because they were martyrs. He was for his exemplary life. His charity is embodied in the sharing of his coat with a poor. This gesture is symbolic, and still speaks to us today. There are so many aims to rescue in this world!

Do you have any other projects?

Of course ! After this long march of 428 days (14,060 km) in five years, I will make small pilgrimages in the United States and Mexico. Then from February to April 2026, I will wander in Scotland and in the north of England, in the footsteps of the many saints who have marked these territories. For example, Saint Ninian (around 360 – 432), who is the first bishop to have visited Scotland. He studied in Rome and went to pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Martin.

Will you devote the rest of your life to pilgrim?

If God wills! I am devoted to the Society of serving Pilgrims, and renew my wishes every year. The objective of the pilgrims of this society is to browse the world by meeting the inhabitants, whatever they are, beyond the distinctions of religion and culture. It is one of the best ways to forge peace between peoples. The world needs more pilgrims!

I have almost no material good, I have no more houses. When I don’t pilgate, I keep animals in those who need them, or stop it in a church. I am poor materially, but infinitely rich spiritually! I am free and in peace. I wish everyone to discover this state of serenity. Since I discovered this way of life, my life has been a pilgrimage. And I know why I exist!