Martin of Braga

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Martin figure in Braga , Portugal
Image of Martin from the 10th century

Martin von Braga (also Martin von Dumium (Dume) , Latin Martinus Bracarensis ; * around 515 in Pannonia , † around 580) was a bishop who contributed significantly to the Christianization of the Suebi of the Suebian kingdom in Gallaecia in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula . Martin of Braga is a Catholic saint and his feast day is March 20th .

He went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and became a monk there. Here he met pilgrims who persuaded him to go with them to the Iberian Peninsula to proselytize the Suevi there, who were either pagans or Arians . Around 550 he came to Gallaecia, where he founded a monastery in Dumium near Braga (today's Dume ), of which he became abbot . Later this monastery was closely associated with the Suebian royal family. Martin organized it on the model of Martin of Tours , whom he adored. When the Suebi king Chararich (550–559) converted to Catholicism , Dumium became a bishopric. However, it did not have its own territory, but was in the diocese of Braga. Martin later founded numerous other monasteries.

In 556 Martin became Bishop of Dumio, 562 Bishop of Braga. He is considered the apostle of the Suebi , whom he - above all King Ariamir - converted from the Arian faith to Catholicism. Martin attended the First Council of Braga (561) and presided over the Second Council of Braga (572).

Gregory of Tours praised him as the most learned of his contemporaries. For missionary purposes he wrote the sermon De correctione rusticorum for Bishop Polemius of Astorga . He wrote the Epistola de trina mersione , which is an important testimony to the history of the Spanish baptismal liturgy . From the Greek he translated a collection of Apophtegmata ( Sententiae patrum Aegyptiorum ) for monastic life . He had a similar collection transferred by the monk Paschasius von Dumium . For practical ecclesiastical life he collected canons ( Capitula Martini ) from Byzantium , Africa and Spain . The Suebenkönig Miro he dedicated the font Formulas vitae honestae .

expenditure

  • Claude W. Barlow (Ed.): Martini Episcopi Bracarensis Opera Omnia (= Papers and Monographs of the American Academy of Rome , Vol. 12). Yale University Press, New Haven 1950 (content: De correctione rusticorum , Epistola de trina mersione and Formulas vitae honestae ).

literature

Web links

Commons : Martin of Braga  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carl Joseph Hefele: Conciliengeschichte: edited according to the sources , Freiburg 1873, p. 15. ( online )
  2. ↑ Stadler's Lexicon of Saints
personal data
SURNAME Martin of Braga
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Martin of Dumium
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pannonian monk and archbishop
DATE OF BIRTH at 515
PLACE OF BIRTH Pannonia
DATE OF DEATH around 580