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E00222: Gregory of Tours writes the Life of *Aemilianus and Brachio (hermit, and monastic founder of the Auvergne and Touraine, ob. 535/550 and 576, S00087): it presents Aemilianus as a hermit with control over animals, and *Brachio as a founder and reformer of monasteries in the Auvergne and Touraine (central and north-west Gaul). From Gregory's Life of the Fathers, written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 573/594. Overview of Gregory's Life of Aemilianus and Brachio.
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posted on 2014-12-02, 00:00 authored by kwojtalikGregory of Tours, Life of the Fathers, Book 12 (Life of Aemilianus and Brachio)
Summary:
Preface: Spiritual discipline leads us towards salvation. Some, like Aemilianus, have abandoned everything of the world and retreated into the wild.
§ 1: Aemilianus left his family and property and withdrew into a forest of the Auvergne; he cleared some land and lived off what he could grow. For company he had only the beasts and birds, which gathered round this man of God.
§ 2: Brachio, was a boar-hunter in the service at Clermont of the powerful Sigivald. One day he pursued a boar, which sought refuge at Aemilianus' cell; his dogs were miraculously prevented from entering the area. Aemilianus convinced Brachio to abandon his worldly occupation. Brachio, impressed by this speech and by the mildness of the boar in the presence of Aemilianus, initially tried to become a cleric in secret, fearing his master, Sigivald. He copied inscriptions from the images of saints, and with miraculous help thereby learned to read and write [see $E00223]. After the death of his master, Brachio joined Aemilianus in the wilderness and learned the whole psalter by heart. Other monks joined them.
§ 3: Aemilianus died and left Brachio as his successor. He founded a monastery to which Sigivald's daughter, Ranichild, donated land. He then left this community and came to Tours where he built oratories and founded two monasteries. He witnessed a miracle in the church of St Martin in Tours [see $E00224]. He returned to his first monastery in the Auvergne for five years, and then came back to Tours and nominated abbots for the monasteries he had founded there, before going back once more to the Auvergne. He re-established the monastic rule in the monastery of Menat. Aemilianus was chaste and affable, but severe in punishing those who broke the rules. He told bishop Avitus [of Clermont] about a dream in which he was taken up to heaven; this he interpreted as a sign of his approaching death. He asked to be buried near a river, where he had planned to build an oratory. When he died, he was at first buried in the oratory of his original cell; but two years later, when a suitable building had been prepared, his body (which was found to be intact) was transferred to the place of burial that he had chosen [see $E00225].
Text: Krusch 1969, 261-265. Summary: Marta Tycner
Summary:
Preface: Spiritual discipline leads us towards salvation. Some, like Aemilianus, have abandoned everything of the world and retreated into the wild.
§ 1: Aemilianus left his family and property and withdrew into a forest of the Auvergne; he cleared some land and lived off what he could grow. For company he had only the beasts and birds, which gathered round this man of God.
§ 2: Brachio, was a boar-hunter in the service at Clermont of the powerful Sigivald. One day he pursued a boar, which sought refuge at Aemilianus' cell; his dogs were miraculously prevented from entering the area. Aemilianus convinced Brachio to abandon his worldly occupation. Brachio, impressed by this speech and by the mildness of the boar in the presence of Aemilianus, initially tried to become a cleric in secret, fearing his master, Sigivald. He copied inscriptions from the images of saints, and with miraculous help thereby learned to read and write [see $E00223]. After the death of his master, Brachio joined Aemilianus in the wilderness and learned the whole psalter by heart. Other monks joined them.
§ 3: Aemilianus died and left Brachio as his successor. He founded a monastery to which Sigivald's daughter, Ranichild, donated land. He then left this community and came to Tours where he built oratories and founded two monasteries. He witnessed a miracle in the church of St Martin in Tours [see $E00224]. He returned to his first monastery in the Auvergne for five years, and then came back to Tours and nominated abbots for the monasteries he had founded there, before going back once more to the Auvergne. He re-established the monastic rule in the monastery of Menat. Aemilianus was chaste and affable, but severe in punishing those who broke the rules. He told bishop Avitus [of Clermont] about a dream in which he was taken up to heaven; this he interpreted as a sign of his approaching death. He asked to be buried near a river, where he had planned to build an oratory. When he died, he was at first buried in the oratory of his original cell; but two years later, when a suitable building had been prepared, his body (which was found to be intact) was transferred to the place of burial that he had chosen [see $E00225].
Text: Krusch 1969, 261-265. Summary: Marta Tycner
History
Evidence ID
E00222Saint Name
Brachio, abbot of Menat in Gaul, ob. 576 : S00087Saint Name in Source
BrachioRelated Saint Records
Type of Evidence
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives of saintLanguage
- Latin
