Saint Fructuosus of Braga

Fructuosus of Braga (c. 600 – 16 April 665) was the Bishop of Dumio and Archbishop of Braga, also known for being a great founder of monasteries. The son of a Visigothic dux in the region of Bierzo, at a young age he accompanied his father on official trips over his estates. After a period spent as a hermit, he established a monastery at Complutum and became its first abbot. After the death of his parents, Fructuosus first sought instruction from the Bishop of Palencia before retiring as a hermit to a desert in Galicia. Many pupils gathered around him, and thus originated the monastery of Complutum in the El Bierzo region, 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, including one for women under the abbess Benedicta. Some of these were located in Gallaecia, but he subsequently established monasteries farther south in the Iberian Peninsula. The location of these foundations "is not known with complete certainty." Fructuosus established Rufiana or the Monasterium Rufianense in El Bierzo, as well as a monastery known as Visoniense and another known as Peonense. It has been speculated that these may refer to San Pedro de Montes, San Fiz de Visoña, San Juan de Poyo, respectively. In Baetica, he established a monastery at the Island of Cádiz and a nunnery called Nono, as it was established nine miles from the sea. His monastery at Compludo was known for its unusually severe Rule. In this monastery, monks were required to reveal all their thoughts, visions and dreams to their superiors. They were subjected to bedtime inspections throughout the night. Monks were forbidden to look at each other. Punishments here were also unusually harsh and included flogging and imprisonment within the monastery on a diet of six ounces of bread for three to six months. His relationship with the kings of his time was not always a happy one.