Saint Martin of Braga

He made a pilgrimage to Palestine to visit the holy places; after which he went to Galicia, wh ere th Galice Region of Spain home to Compostela. e Suebi, infected with the Arian heresy, had established their dominion. There he instructed in the faith King T heodemir, who roi Théodomir Traveling companion of Saint Vigor. had been cured of leprosy through the intercession of S aint Martin of Tours. saint Martin de Tours Saint whose relics were honored by missionaries in Tours. Through his preaching, the new Apostle brought this part of Spain back to Catholic unity.

Around the year 500, he built several monasteries there, the principal one being that of Dume, near the city Braga Diocese in Portugal celebrating the feast of the martyrs. of Braga, in present-day Portugal. He took charge of this monastery. The bishops of the province erected it into a bishopric, out of respect for the extraordinary merit of the Saint, whom they raised to the new see in 567. The kings of the Suebi wished for Martin to be the bishop of their court; which caused him to be called Bishop of the royal family by the author of an ancient notice of the country. He continued his initial way of life, and always governed his religious with perfect regularity. He was subsequently r siège de Braga Diocese in Portugal celebrating the feast of the martyrs. aised to the see of Braga, metropolitan of all Galicia. He has always been regarded as one of the most brilliant lights of the Church of Spain, and as one of the finest ornaments of t he monas Fortunat Contemporary poet and primary source for the life of Leontius. tic state. Fortunatus, who addressed the first verses of his fifth book to him, says of him that he had inherited the name and the merit of Saint Martin of Tours.

He served the Church no less through his writings than through his virtues. He died on March 20, 580, and is honored on this day. His body was transported from Dume to Braga in 1606.

The writings of Saint Martin of Braga are: 1° A Collection of eighty-four Canons. It is addressed to Nitigias, bishop of Lugo, and divided into two parts, the first of which concerns bishops and clerics; the second concerns the laity. This Collection is found in the various collections of councils and in the appendix of the first volume of the Bibliotheca Canonica by Justel, Paris, 1661. 2° Formula for an Honest Life, or treatise on the four cardinal virtues. This book is addressed to Miro, kin g of Galicia, who ha Myron, roi de Galice King of Galicia and recipient of a treatise by Martin. d asked the Saint to give him instructions on how he should conduct himself. It was printed in the Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. X, p. 382, and in the Spicilegium of Father d'Achéry, vol. X, p. 626. 3° The preceding treatise is followed, in the Bibliotheca Patrum, by a book by Saint Martin, entitled On Morals. It is a tapestry of moral maxims, equally suitable for forming man in virtue and the practice of the duties of civil society. 4° There are also some other writings of our Saint, among others a collection of sentences of the solitaries of Egypt, which is found in the appendix of the Lives of the Fathers, by Rosweyde. See on the writings of Saint Martin of Braga, the learned Cardinal Aguirre, Notit. Conc. Hispan., p. 92.

See Saint Isidore of Seville, in CataL and in Chron. Sacc.; Saint Gregory of Tours, Hist., bk. V, ch. 26, and de mirac. S. Martini; Mabillon, exc. I Ben.; Celliter.