Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 46
Braulio, bishop of Saragossa (Iberian Peninsula), chides the Presbyter Iactatus of an unknown town for not visiting him during his stay in Tarazona (close to Saragossa). Letter 10 of Braulio of Saragossa, ca AD 631/632.
Letter 10
 
Braulio writes about the difficulties caused by the separation of friends.
 
Corsum ista locutus? Uidelicet, quia uenisti Tirassona ut tibi ignoscam ut pene sepe moraris et nos uidere contemnis. Agnosce culpam, si uis ut tibi ignoscam et indagine studioso da oportunitatem qua debeas prima post Pascha te nobis ex[h]ibere. [...] Direxisti nobis quod in Sacramento offertur corporis Cristi. Remisimus uobis quod in eiusdem Domini misterio sanguinem prefigurat, uini metra uidelicet duo. Direximus et metrum olei et modum olibae in gemino caritatis precepto; aliud nimirum quo Dei et aliud quo proximi dilectio signatur. Damascinae modium unum, de quo non inuenio quod dicam, nisi forsitan id, quod nato Domino uirtus ciuitatis illius, unde hoc genus pomi ortum est, offerenda promittitur, hoc est aurum, quod a Magis oblatum sanctum refert euangelium.
 
(ed. Riesco Terrero 1975: 76, 78)
Letter 10
 
Braulio writes about the difficulties caused by the separation of friends.
 
Why have I said all this? Because you visited Tarazona, when you very often stay, and would not come to see me. Confess your guilt if you wish to be pardoned, and seek diligentely to make it possible for yourself to appear to us directly after Easter. [...] You have sent us what is offered in the sacrament of the Body of Christ; we have sent you what prefigures the Blood in the mystery of the same Lord, namely, two measures of wine. We have also sent a measure of oil and a measure of olives in accordance with the double precept of charity: that is to say, one by which the love of God is signified, and the other, love of neighbor. We have sent one measure of damson plums, about which I cannot find anything symbolic to say, unless, perchance, it is that, when the Lord was born, the special attribute of that city from which this kind of fruit comes was sent as an offering: this is the gold which the Holy Gospel mentions as given by the Magi.
 
(Barlowe 1969: 29-30)

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula
City
  • Saragossa
  • Tarazona

About the source:

Author: Braulio of Saragossa
Title: Letters, Epistularium
Origin: Saragossa (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Braulio`s letters 9 and 10 [46] to the Presbyter Iactatus are dated to 631-632, because Braulio`s remark about "the storms and tempests which daily threaten shipwreck for us in our present situation" is identified as an allusion to the supposed revolts which king Sisenand had to quell in 631 after the very beginning of his reign (Barlowe 1969: 20, n. 2; see e.g. the usurpation of Iudila: Beltrán 1941: 97-101; Thompson 1969: 175, Collins 2004: 78). Moreover, the request of Iactatus for relics seems to suggest that Braulio was already a bishop. Lynch (1938: 76-77), however, thinks that Braulio was not a bishop because he styled the presbyter "a brother" and the title Braulio was using during his episcopacy (servus inutilis servorum Dei) is missing. For this reasons Lynch dates both letters to 630.
Edition:
Riesco Terrero, Luis ed. Epistolario de san Braulio. Annales de la Universidad Hispalense. Serie Filosofía y Letras, v. 31. Sevilla, 1975.
 
Translation:
C.W. Barlowe, Iberian Fathers, v. 2, Braulio of Saragossa, Fructuosus of Braga, Washington D. C. 1969.
Bibliography:
Barlowe, Claude W. ed., Iberian Fathers, v. 2, Braulio of Saragossa, Fructuosus of Braga, Washington D. C. 1969
P. Beltrán, 'Iudila y Sunifredo, reyes visigodos (Estudio numismático).', Empúries: revista de món clàssic i antiguitat tardana 3 (1941), 97-104
R. Collins, Visigothic Spain, 409-711, Oxford-Malden 2004
C.H. Lynch, Saint Braulio, bishop of Saragossa (631-651) his life and writings, Washington, D.C 1938 (see also Spanish translation revised by P. Galindo: C.H. Lynch, P. Galindo, San Braulio, obispo de Zaragoza: (631 - 651). Su vida y sus obras, Madrid 1950)
E.A. Thompson, The Goths in Spain, Oxford 1969.

Categories:

Writing activity - Correspondence
Food/Clothes/Housing - Food and drink
Travel and change of residence
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Economic status and activity - Gift
Friendship
Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER46, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=46