FRUCTUOSUS, Saint. - Archbishop of Braga. Of royal family, he studied with Conantius, bishop of Palencia around 625. Having become a cleric, he withdrew to solitude; he had many disciples, for whom he founded the monastery of Compludo (León), the first of a federation of monasteries founded in the mountains of Bierzo, in Galicia, and in the north of Portugal. At the Tenth Council of Toledo he was made archbishop of Braga (656). Until his death, around 665, he lived as a monk.

His spirit survived in the two rules: Regula monachorum and Regula communis, in force in the monasteries of the northwest of the Iberian peninsula for three centuries. The most original and characteristic elements of these rules come from Germanic law. In the Regula communis is found the Pactum, a celebrated formula of religious profession. Very severe in regular and penitential life, he was gentle in word and character. His disciple was St. Valerius, to whom the Vita of F. seems to be owed. A letter of his to Recceswinth is also preserved (MGH, Epist., III [Berlin 1892], pp. 688-89) and one to St. Braulio of Zaragoza (J. Madoz, Epistolario de Braulio de Zaragoza (Madrid 1941), pp. 186-89. Feast on 16 April.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: Regulae: PL 87, 1098-1132; I. Herweger, Das Pactum des hl. F. von Braga, Stuttgart 1907; J. Perez de Urbel, Los monjes españoles en la edad media, I, 2nd ed., Madrid 1945, pp. 377-450; Martyr. Romanum, p. 140.

Giovanni Mesequer

@incollection{ec5_fruttuoso_santo_2, author = {Meseguer, Giovanni}, title = {Fruttuoso, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1790--1791}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/fruttuoso-santo-2} }

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Fructuosus, Saint

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