Nicolas de Bralion

French Oratorian and ecclesiastical writer, born at Chars-en-Vexin, France, c. 1600; died at Paris, 11 May 1672. He joined the Paris Oratory in 1619, and, in 1625, went to Rome, where he remained fifteen years at San Luigi dei Francesi, then an Oratorian establishment, devoting his time to research and literary work. There he published an Italian translation of Cardinal de Bérulle’s “Elévation” (1640) and of a portion of Ribadeniera’s “Saintly Lives”. He returned to Paris about 1640 and spent the rest of his life at the Church of St Honoré. Among other works he published “Vie de St. Nicholas, archeveque de Myre” (1646); “Pallium Archiepisopale” (1648 — the first serious study published in France on the significance, tradition, and use of that vestment); “Histoire chretienne” (1656); “La curiosité de l’une et l’autre Rome” (1655-59); “Caeremoniale Canoncorum” (1657 — a practical guide on Roman lines); “Histoire de la sainte chapelle de Lorette” (1665).