BRECAN

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BRANWALATOR, ST.

BRANWALATOR, ST., whose name occursin a Breton liturgy of the 10th century, in con-junction with St. Sampson (Haddan and Stubbs, ii.82); and Middleton abbey, in Dorsetshire, whichclaimed to have been founded by Athelstan, wasdedicated to these two saints in conjunction withsome others. (Kemble, Codex Diplomatics, Nos.375 and 1119. Kemble marks the charters asspurious, but they are sufficient to prove thatthese two were the patron saints.) St. Bran-walator’s day is given as Jan. 19 in the calendarsof Winchester and Malmesbury (in Hampson’sMedii Aevi ICalendarium i 4-22, 435, shewn to belongto these two places by numerous entries).

[C. W. B.]

BRATJLIO, succeeded his brother John in627 as bishop of Saragossa, of which he hadbeen previously archdeacon. He was deservedlyfamous as one of the most learned men of hisage, to whom Spain was largely indebted forthe revival of the study of the Scriptures, andthe awakening of a taste for classical literature,with which his letters shew great familiarity,containing frequent quotations from Horace,Virgil, Terence, Juvenal, &c., as well as for thereformation of ecclesiastical discipline. His con-temporary and friend, Isidore of Seville, extolshim for having raised Spain from the decay intowhich it had sunk; in re-establishing the monu-ments of the ancients, and preserving it fromrusticity and barbarism. It was owing to hispersevering importunity that Isidore commencedhis great work, de Etymologiis , the incompleteMS. of which at Isidore’s death was placed inBraulio’s hands to arrange, and was published byhim in its present form. Braulio took part inthe 4-th, 5th, and 6th councils of Toledo, anddrew up the canons of the last, a.d. 638, and inthe name of the bishops and clergy there assem-bled wrote to pope Honorius I. a letter refutingthe calumnies brought against them, the exqui-site style of which excited general admiration atRome; “ quam Roma urbium mater et dominasatis mirata est ” (Isid. Pacens.). His voluminouscorrespondence includes letters between him andthe kings Chiadesvinthus, and Recesvinthus, andthe bishops and presbyters of Spain and GalliaNarbonensis. There are also extant a life of St.Aemilianus (d. 564), one of the earliest pro-moters of the Benedictine rule in Spain, dedi-cated to Fruminianus, consisting chiefly of themiracles attributed to him; an iambic hymn inhonour of the same saint; and Acta de Martyri-bus Caesar august. These are printed in Migne,Patrol. Ixxx. 639-720. (Cave, i. 579; Ildefons.de Vir. III. 12; Mabill. Sa6c. Bened. i. 205.)

[E. V.]

BREACA, ST. The connexion of the Celtictribes with each other was very close in theearly Christian times, as is clear from the livesof their saints; and Cornwall stood in a nearrelation with the three opposite Celtic coasts, bymere geographical position. From the Land’sEnd to a point about half-way up the northcoast of Cornwall, the saints after whom thechurches are named were of Irish origin. East-ward of this, Welsh influence is predominant,while on the south-west coast the connexion iswith the kindred race in Brittany. One of thecompanies of Irish ascetics is stated to have

landed in the Hayle Estuary, on the north coast(Acta Sanctorum, Oct. 27 ; vol. xii. p. 293), thenames given being Breaca, la, Uni, Sininus, El-winus, Marnanus, Germochus, Crewenna, Helena,Etha (or Thecla), Gwithianus, Wynnerus, andmost of these names are still found in theneighbouring parishes. The Irish annals, how-ever, make hardly any mention of the mission-aries who permanently left Ireland. The Celticchurches were mostly named after theirfounders, not dedicated to them, or to the saintswhom we now find in the Roman calendar. Theexceptions are characteristic, viz. St. Michael thearchangel, St. Martin of Tours, and St. Germanus—the latter of course owing to the mission of thechurch of Gaul, during the Pelagian controversy.In Devonshire, which became English at an earlyperiod, the case is different, thus the churchesdedicated to the Virgin are as common there asthey are rare in Cornwall. Lives of Breaca, la,Elwinus, and Wynnerus, existed in Leland’s time(jibin' 3, pp. 4, 15,16,21), which connected someof their companions with St. Patrick. It is. pos-sible that we may date the arrival of Breaca inthe latter part of the 5th century, while theWelsh saints who settled in Cornwall must bedated in the latter part of the 6th. The paganprince of the country, who killed some of thevoyagers, is called Tewder in the Lives, andthis is the name also of the persecutor in thecurious miracle-play written in the Cornishlanguage, on the Life of St. Meriadoc (Beunan’sMeriasek, ed. Whitley Stokes, 1872). Paganismlasted long in Cornwall, and in the tumuli whichcontain burnt bodies (the custom of burning canhardly have long survived the introduction ofChristianity) coins of very late Roman emperorsare found (cf. Haddan and Stubbs, ii. 73). Breacais said to have been born on the confines of Ulsterand Leinster, i.e. in East Meath. Can the namebe connected with that of the district in whichSt. Brigid’s oratory was situated—viz.: “ Breacaecampus/’ i.e. Magh Breagh, between the Liffeyand the Boyne (Four Masters, anno 226, p. Ill;O’Donovan, Book of Bights, p. 11; Todd’s St.Patrick, p. 406). The Cornish parishes of St.Ives (la), Crowan, Germoe, Gwithian, Gwinnear(Wynnerus), are all near the parish of Breage;and St. Uni is the patron saint of Lelant, thenext parish to St. Ives, and has chapels in severalother places; St. Breaca’s day is June 4. Breageand Germoe are united parishes, and a curiousold Cornish proverb couples the names togetherin the distich,

“Germoe matber, Germoe a king;

Breaga lavethes, Breage a midwife.”

[C. W. B.]

BRECAN (BRACAN, BROGAN, BER-CHAN). Of those bearing this name it isdifficult to define what properly belongs to each,especially as one, like the saint of Echdruim andson of Saran, is indifferently called Bercan andBrecan.

(1) Bishop of Ard-Braccan—Dec. 6. He wasof the race of Eoghain, son of Niall (Mart.Doneg.), and bishop of Meath, but the nameof his place is derived from Brecan of Araand Killbraccan.

(2) Of Cill-mor-Difchruibh—Aug. 9. He isone of the nineteen saints of Kilmore, near the