BRAULIO of Saragozza, Saint. — Bishop of Saragozza, born c. 590, died in 651. Of an illustrious Hispano-Roman family, he was educated in Saragozza at the monastery of St. Engracia; around 620 he went to Seville to the school directed by St. Isidore, with whom he formed a deep friendship. He encouraged and assisted Isidore in the composition of the *Etymologiae* and seems to have supervised its publication (637), dividing it into 20 books. After Isidore’s death, he added to the *De viris illustribus* a catalogue of Isidore’s works and an enthusiastic encomium. He succeeded his brother John as bishop of Saragozza (631) and soon became the most important figure in the Spanish episcopate due to his learning. His letters, addressed to those seeking his counsel, display a judgment that was upright, discreet, and erudite beyond compare except by St. Isidore himself. The intellectual movement of Visigothic Spain owes much to him, both through his own writings and through the studies he promoted in every way, including the copying of manuscripts and the search for codices. He took part in the 4th, 5th, and 6th Councils of Toledo, distinguishing himself in canon law; at the last of these he composed the famous letter of reply to Honorius I, who had accused the Spanish episcopate of laxity and weakness toward the Jews. His cult began to develop between the 13th and 14th centuries.
He wrote the *Life of St. Emilianus*, often printed, the so-called *Smaragdus of Toledo*, a hagiographical pamphlet, numerous musical compositions, and perhaps the *Passio of the Innumerable Martyrs of Caesaraugusta*. In the 18th century, 44 letters of Braulio were discovered in a codex from León; they were published in *España sagrada*, XXX (Madrid 1773) and reprinted by Risco in 1859 (*PL* 80, cols. 649–700). A more accurate new edition was produced by J. Madoz, *Epistolario de s. B. de Zaragoza* (Madrid 1941), which includes an old Spanish translation from the 15th century. Recently, however, Fr. M. Alamo (*Rev. hist. eccles.*, 38 [1942], pp. 417 ff.) raised serious doubts about the authenticity of part of this correspondence, suggesting that some letters were composed in the 9th century as stylistic models. In any case, those that are certainly authentic remain an excellent source for reconstructing Braulio’s personality and the most important testimony for understanding the inner life of the Visigothic Church in the first half of the 7th century. On Braulio’s contribution to the Mozarabic liturgy, cf. what Fr. Alamo notes, *ibid.*, p. 421.