Martin St. Of Braga

Martin St. Of Braga

Martin (St.) Of Braga,

a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, was born in Pannonia about the beginning of the 6th century. In his youth he visited the holy places of Palestine. He afterwards went to Galicia, in Spain, where he did much to preserve orthodoxy among the population, which inclined strongly to Arianism. He established several convents there, and was himself abbot of Dumia until about 560. At that time he was made archbishop of Bracara, now Braga, in Portugal. As such he took part in the second Council of Bracara, in 563, against the Priscillianists and Arians, and in 572 presided over the third council at the same place on Church discipline. He died about 583. He was a very voluminous writer. Among his works we notice Formula honestae vitae s. de denrentiis quaotuor virtutum (in the Bibl. P. Par. Lund. 10:382 sq., and Gallandi Bibl. Patr. 12:273 sq.). This work was very well received. The Sententice Egyptiorum patrunm were not translated from Greek into Latin by Martin, as some have supposed, but by Paschasius, deacon of the convent of Dumia, at Martin's instigation (Rosweyd, Vit. Patr. [Antv. 1615], p. 1002 sq.; see also Grasse, Handbuch dc allg. Literaturg .esch. 2:1.27). Some Latin poems of Martin are to be found in Sismondi, Opp. [ed.Ven.], 2:653, and in Gallandi Bibl. Patr.). But more important than all these is his Collectio Orientalium Canonum, s. Capitula lxxxiv collecta ex Graecis synodis et versa, etc. (in Aguirre, Conc. Hisp. 2:327 sq., and Mansi, 9:846 sq.; see Florez, Esp. Saggr. 4:151 sq.). It is a sort of translated compilation of, with commentaries on, the acts of the Greek councils, adapted for the use of the Western Church. It is divided into two parts, the first containing the canons concerning the clergy, the second those applying to the laity. See D. Czvittingeri Specimen lunigarire literatae (Francf. and Lip. 1711); Schrockh, Kirchesngesch. 17:392 sq.; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 9:122. (J. N. P.)