Saint Bracchio of

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

(or of

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; oc, label= Occitan, Auvèrnhe or ) is a former administrative region in central France, comprising the four departments of Allier, Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Haute-Loire. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Au ...

) (d. 576 AD) was an

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

. Bracchio had been a

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

nWalter Goffart, ''Rome's Fall and After'' (Continuum, 1989), 288. nobleman who had served in the court of Sigiswald of Clermont.

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Floren ...

writes that Bracchio’s name meant “bear’s whelp” in the Germanic language. An avid hunter, Bracchio was one day pursuing a wild boar when the boar escaped into the hut of a

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

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.

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite ( adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a C ...

named Emilian, who offered the huntsman some wild fruit.Paulist Fathers, ''Catholic World'', Volume 36, 1883. Digitized November 2, 2007, p. 753. Cowed by the hermit’s presence, Bracchio’s dogs refused to attack the boar. Intrigued by the hermit and his apparent power, Bracchio and the hermit discussed spiritual matters. After the death of his lord Sigiswald, 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, and soon knew the psalter by heart. The hermitage soon attracted other prospective students. After Emilian’s death,Goyau, Georges. "Bordeaux." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 13 April 2020 Bracchio turned the hermitage, which Emilian had bequeathed to him, into a monastery dedicated to Saint Saturninus (Saturnin).Dominique Branche, ''L'Auvergne au moyen âge. Avec un atlas'' (1842), 61. The grant of land for the new monastery was given to Bracchio by Ramichilde, the daughter of Sigiswald. Bracchio subsequently became the abbot of

Menat In ancient Egyptian religion, a menat ( egy, mnj.t, ar, منات) was a type of artefact closely associated with the goddess Hathor. Operation The menat was held in the hand by its counterpoise and used as a rattle by Hathor's priestesses. It ...

in the Auvergne, and re-established strict monastic discipline there.

Notes

{{Authority control 576 deaths Medieval German saints Year of birth unknown 6th-century Christian saints 6th-century Christian clergy German abbots