BRAULIO of SARAGOSSA, saint. — Bishop of Saragossa, born ca. 590, died in 651. Of an illustrious Hispano-Roman family, he was educated at Saragossa in the monastery of S. Engracia; around 620 he went to Seville to the school directed by s. Isidore, with whom he formed a profound friendship. He encouraged and assisted him in composing the Etymologiae and apparently oversaw its edition (637), dividing it into 20 books. After his death he added to the De viris illustribus a catalogue of Isidore’s own works and an enthusiastic eulogy. He succeeded his brother Giovanni in the bishopric of Saragossa (631) and soon became the most important member of the Spanish episcopate on account of his learning. The letters addressed to those who sought his advice reveal his sound judgment, discretion, and erudition, surpassed by no one except s. Isidore. The intellectual movement of Visigothic Spain owed much to him, both for his personal works and for the studies that he encouraged in every way, even having manuscripts copied and codices sought out. He participated in the IV, V, and VI Councils of Toledo, distinguishing himself through his canonical learning: at the last 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 arose and developed around the 13th–14th centuries.
He wrote the Vita di s. Emiliano, printed many times, the so-called Smaragdus of Toledo, a hagiographical booklet, numerous musical compositions, and perhaps the Pastio ss. innumerabilium Caesaraugustanorum martyrum. In the 18th century, 44 letters of B. were discovered in a codex at León and published in España sagrada, XXX, Madrid 1775, then republished by Risco in 1859 (PL 80, coll. 649–700). A new, more accurate edition was prepared by J. Madoz, Epistolario de s. B. de Zaragoza, Madrid 1941, with an old Spanish translation from the 15th century. Recently, however, Fr. M. Alamo (Rev. hist. eccles., 38 [1942], pp. 417 ff.) expressed serious doubts about the authenticity of some of these letters, which may have been composed in the 9th century to serve as models of style. In any case, those that are certainly authentic are an excellent source for reconstructing B.’s personality and the most important testimony for penetrating the inner life of the Visigothic Church in the first half of the 7th century. On B.’s contribution to the Mozarabic liturgy, cf. what Fr. Alamo mentions, ibid., p. 421.