Bracchio

{{Infobox saint |name= Saint Bracchio |birth_date= |death_date=576 AD |feast_day= February 9 |venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church<ref>February 22 / February 9. https://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/htc/orthodox-calendar/</ref> |image= |imagesize= 250px |caption= |birth_place= |death_place= Auvergne, France |titles= |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date= |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes= |patronage= |major_shrine= |suppressed_date= |issues= }} '''Saint Bracchio'''<ref>Also ''Brachio'', ''Bracchion'', or ''Braque''.</ref> {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|r|æ|k|i|oʊ}} of Tours (or of Auvergne) (d. 576 AD) was an abbot. Bracchio had been a Thuringian<ref name=goffart>Walter Goffart, ''Rome's Fall and After'' (Continuum, 1989), 288.</ref> nobleman who had served in the court of Sigiswald of Clermont. Gregory of Tours writes that Bracchio’s name meant “bear’s whelp” in the Germanic language.<ref name=goffart/>

An avid hunter, Bracchio was one day pursuing a wild boar when the boar escaped into the hut of a Gallo-Roman<ref name=forbes>Charles Forbes Montalembert (comte de), ''The Monks of the West from St. Benedict to St. Bernard'', Volume 2 (Aurélien Courson (comte de), J.C. Nimmo, 1896), 203.</ref> hermit named Emilian, who offered the huntsman some wild fruit.<ref name=paulist>Paulist Fathers, ''Catholic World'', Volume 36, 1883. Digitized November 2, 2007, p. 753.</ref> Cowed by the hermit’s presence, Bracchio’s dogs refused to attack the boar.<ref name=forbes/> Intrigued by the hermit and his apparent power, Bracchio and the hermit discussed spiritual matters.<ref name=goffart/>

After the death of his lord Sigiswald,<ref name=paulist/> Bracchio soon gave up his worldly life and became Emilian’s spiritual student for three years. Bracchio studied the golden letters on the images of the hermitage’s church and soon learned how to read,<ref name=goffart/> and soon knew the psalter by heart.<ref name=paulist/> The hermitage soon attracted other prospective students. After Emilian’s death,<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02682a.htm Goyau, Georges. "Bordeaux." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 13 April 2020{{PD-notice}}</ref> Bracchio turned the hermitage, which Emilian had bequeathed to him,<ref name=paulist/> into a monastery dedicated to Saint Saturninus (Saturnin).<ref name=branche>Dominique Branche, ''L'Auvergne au moyen âge. Avec un atlas'' (1842), 61.</ref>

The grant of land for the new monastery was given to Bracchio by Ramichilde, the daughter of Sigiswald.<ref name=paulist/> Bracchio subsequently became the abbot of Menat in the Auvergne, and re-established strict monastic discipline there.<ref name=forbes/><ref name=paulist/>

==Notes== {{reflist}}

{{Subject bar |portal1= Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Catholicism |portal4= France}} {{Authority control}}

Category:576 deaths Category:Medieval German saints Category:Year of birth unknown Category:6th-century Christian saints Category:6th-century Christian clergy Category:German abbots