Bracchio

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|name= Saint Bracchio

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|death_date=576 AD

|feast_day= February 9

|venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox ChurchFebruary 22 / February 9. https://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/htc/orthodox-calendar/

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|imagesize= 250px

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|death_place= Auvergne, France

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Saint BracchioAlso Brachio, Bracchion, or Braque. {{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|r|æ|k|i|oʊ}} of Tours (or of Auvergne) (d. 576 AD) was an abbot. Bracchio had been a ThuringianWalter Goffart, Rome's Fall and After (Continuum, 1989), 288. 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.

An avid hunter, Bracchio was one day pursuing a wild boar when the boar escaped into the hut of a Gallo-RomanCharles 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 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,[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}} 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 the Auvergne, and re-established strict monastic discipline there.