Braulio was archdeacon to his brother John, Bishop of Saragossa, and succeeded him in 631. His influence reached the bishops and kings of Spain. He urged King Chindaswinth to make his son Receswinth co-ruler.

He was a close friend of St Isidore of Seville, and it was at his urging that Isidore began and finished his Etymologies; Braulio divided that work into books and wrote a notice of Isidore's life and writings. He attended the councils of Toledo, and the council of 638 chose him to answer Pope Honorius I, who had rebuked the Spanish bishops for negligence. He defended them boldly.

He also wrote a Life of St Emilian and many letters valuable for the history of Visigothic (of the Germanic kingdom ruling Spain) Spain. In his last years he lost his sight. He died at Saragossa.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 134 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

S. Braulio is traditionally said to have been divinely designated for the episcopate, when the clergy and people were assembled to elect to the vacant see of Saragossa, by the appearance of a tongue of flame on his head. He was an intimate friend of S. Isidore, bishop of Hispalis, or Seville, and he has been by some writers erroneously called the brother of Isidore and Leander. S. Braulio sat in the 5th and 6th Councils of Toledo.

Bishop of Saragossa, date of birth unknown, d. at Saragossa c. 651. In 631 he succeeded his brother John, whose archdeacon he had been, in the episcopal See of Saragossa. His influence extended not only to the bishops, but also to the Kings of Spain. In one of his letters (no. xxxvii) he urged King Chindaswinth to appoint a co-regent in the person of his son Receswinth. To his insistence with his friend Isidore of Seville, is due the inception and completion of the latter's "Libri Etymologiarum". Braulio was present at the synods held in Toledo in 633, 636, and 638. The members of the last-mentioned council selected him to write an answer to Pope Honorius I, who had reproached the Spanish bishops with negligence in the performance of their pastoral duties. Braulio in his letter (no. xxi) cleverly and fearlessly defended the conduct of the Spanish episcopate. Towards the end of his life, he complained bitterly of the loss of his eyesight. He was buried in the church of Nuestra Senora Merced del Pilar, where his tomb was discovered in 1290. His feast is celebrated in Spain on 18 March, while the Roman Martyrology has it on the 26th.

Braulio is the author (1) of a life of St. Emilian (Æmilianus Cucullatus, or San Millan de la Cogolla), a priest of the Diocese of Turiasso, now Tarazona, and the writer of a hymn in honour of the same saint. (2) A collection of forty-four letters, of which there is no mention in antiquity, was discovered in the eighteenth century in the Spanish city of Leon. They form a valuable addition to our knowledge of the history of Spain under the Visigoths and were first published in the "Espana Sagrada" of Florez (XXX, 1775). (3) The division and titles of the "Etymologiarum Libri 20" of St. Isidore and a eulogistic notice of the latter's life, together with an enumeration of his writings, are also Braulio's work. This notice and catalogue he added to the "De Viris Illustribus" of Isidore. It is found printed in Migne, P.L. (LXXXI, 15-17). (4) Braulio's authorship of the "Acts of the Martyrs of Saragossa" is usually admitted. He may also have written the "Passio S. Leocadiae". His works are accessible in P.L., LXXX, 639-720.

Gams, Kirchengesch. von Span (Ratisbon [Regensburg in Bavaria], 1862-79), I, 320-329, 344; II, ii, 145-149, 224-227; Venables in Dict. Christ. Biog., s. v.; CHEVALIER, Rep. bio-bib. (Paris, 1905), I, 692; Anal. Boll. (1905), XXIV, 153.