Saint Fructueux de Braga
Évêque (✝ 665)
Confesseur.
Il transforma la Galice espagnole en une véritable Thébaïde, à l'image des
Pères du Désert. Son ascendant personnel était si grand que les disciples
vinrent à lui très nombreux. Il fut ensuite appelé à devenir évêque de Braga au
nord du Portugal.
À Braga au Portugal, vers 668, saint Fructueux, évêque, qui fut d’abord
moine et fondateur de monastères, puis évêque et abbé de Dume, enfin établi par
les Pères du dixième Concile de Tolède évêque métropolitain de Braga; il
gouverna avec prudence son Église en même temps que ses monastères.
Martyrologe
romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/989/Saint-Fructueux-de-Braga.html
Fils d’un général de l’armée royale des Visigoths, à la mort de ses parents, il étudie la théologie au séminaire de Palence, puis distribue la majeure partie de son héritage aux pauvres, rachète la liberté de plusieurs esclaves et fonde plusieurs monastères. Il devient d’abord moine, puis ermite en Galicie. Sa réputation attire de nombreux disciples, pour qui il fonde plusieurs autres monastères, qu’il place sous la règle de St Benoît et dont il devient l’abbé. Il attire tellement de vocations que le roi est obligé d’intervenir pour imposer des limites, craignant de manquer d’hommes pour son armée. Quelque temps après, Fructueux émet le souhait de partir se retirer en Égypte. Le roi intervient à nouveau pour l’en empêcher, considérant que son départ aurait un impact trop important sur les populations. Fructueux est alors obligé d’accepter la charge d’évêque de Dumium, en 654, puis celle d’archevêque de Braga (Portugal) en 656.
SOURCE : http://catholiquepratiquant.forumactif.com/t6785-st-fructueux-de-braga
St Fructueux de Braga (+665)
Fils d’un général de l’armée royale des Visigoths, à la mort de ses parents, il étudie la théologie au séminaire de Palence, puis distribue la majeure partie de son héritage aux pauvres, rachète la liberté de plusieurs esclaves et fonde plusieurs monastères. Il devient d’abord moine, puis ermite en Galicie. Sa réputation attire de nombreux disciples, pour qui il fonde plusieurs autres monastères, qu’il place sous la règle de St Benoît et dont il devient l’abbé. Il attire tellement de vocations que le roi est obligé d’intervenir pour imposer des limites, craignant de manquer d’hommes pour son armée. Quelque temps après, Fructueux émet le souhait de partir se retirer en Égypte. Le roi intervient à nouveau pour l’en empêcher, considérant que son départ aurait un impact trop important sur les populations. Fructueux est alors obligé d’accepter la charge d’évêque de Dumium, en 654, puis celle d’archevêque de Braga (Portugal) en 656.
SOURCE : http://catholiquepratiquant.forumactif.com/t6785-st-fructueux-de-braga
St. Fructuosus
of Braga
An Archbishop, d. 16 April, c. 665. He was the son of a Gothic
general, and studied in Palencia. After the death of his parents he retired as a hermit to a desert in Galicia. Numerous pupils gathered around him, and thus originated
the monastery of Complutum (Compludo) over which he himself at first presided, later,
he appointed an abbot and again retired into the desert. In the course of time, he founded nine other monasteries, also one for 80 virgins under the saintly abbess Benedicta. In 654, Fructuosus was called to the Bishopric of Dumium,
and on 1 December, 656, to the Archbishopric of Braga. The life of this greatest of Spanish monastic bishops was written by Abbot Valerius, and based on the accounts of his pupils.
In 1102, his relics were transferred to Compostela. The feast day is the 16 of April. Fructuosus is depicted with a stag, which was
devoted to him, because he had been saved by Fructuosus from the hunters. There
are still extant two monastic rules written by Fructuosus. The first (25
chapters) was destined for the monastery of Complutum, it has an appendix (called pactum),
containing the formulae of consecration and the vows. The second, called the "common" rule, which consists of
chapters and refers to a union of monasteries governed by an abbot-bishop, is addressed chiefly to superiors of monasteries.
Meier, Gabriel. "St. Fructuosus of Braga."
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 16 Apr. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06311a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for
New Advent by Joseph P. Thomas.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New
York.
Fructuosus of Braga B Abbot (RM)
Born in Spain; died April 16, 665. Fructuosus was the son of a military officer
belonging to the royal house of the Visigoths. His station in life would have
called him to another vocation, but at the death of his parents he was at
liberty to consecrate his life to divine service. After studying theology in
the seminary established by the bishop of Palencia, Fructuosus sold his estates
and distributed most of the proceeds among the poor, but saved a portion to
establish monasteries. Freed of all ties, he became a monk, then a hermit in
the Vierzo Mountains, where he was joined by crowds of disciples, whom he
organized into the abbey called Complutum. Once the monastery was working well,
he turned the abbacy over to other hands and retired again into the wilderness.
We have two extant rules composed by Fructuosus: one called Complutum, the
other the common rule. Whole families embraced his rule in community refuges,
which he established based on the Rule of Saint Benedict. Eventually,
Fructuosus was forced to accept the bishopric of Dumium, and later was
consecrated archbishop of Braga, while wholly remaining a monk in spirit. His
deathbed was a pile of ashes before the altar. The relics of Fructuosus are now
venerated at Santiago de Compostella (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia,
Husenbeth).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0416.shtml
April 16
St. Fructuosus,
Archbishop of Braga, Confessor
HE was a prince of the royal blood of the Visigoth kings in Spain; but,
from his youth, desired to consecrate his life to the divine service in a holy
retreat beyond the reach of that whirlpool of business, faction, pleasure, and
sin, called the world. After the death of his parents, he found himself at
large, and at full liberty to dispose of himself according to his desire. He
therefore procured himself to be instructed in the sacred sciences, in the
great school which the bishop of Palencia had established for the education of
his clergy. He sold the greater part of his estate, and bestowed the whole
price upon the poor, and with the rest founded several monasteries, especially
a great one on his estate upon the mountains near Vierzo, under the title of SS.
Justin and Pastor, martyrs of Complutum, or Alcala; whence he called this abbey
Complutum. He put on the monastic habit, and governed this house as abbot till
he saw it settled in good order. He then appointed another abbot, and retired
into a wilderness, where he led a most austere life, clothed with the skins of
beasts in imitation of the ancient hermits. He afterwards founded several other
monasteries, and a great nunnery called None, because nine miles from the sea.
We have two monastic rules compiled by him, the one called Of Complutum, the
other the common rule. He was consecrated bishop of Duma, near Braga, and, in
656, archbishop of Braga. His innocence and virtue were no security from the
shafts of envy: but he overcame injuries by meekness and patience: and died
laid on ashes before the altar, as he desired, on the 16th of April, 665. His
body now rests at Compostella. See his life wrote by a contemporary author in
Mabillon, sæc. 2; Ben. Bulteau, Hist. de
l’Ordre de St. Benoit. t. 1; and Henschenius, Apr. t. 2, p. 430.
