Bralion, NICOLAS BE, a French Oratorian and ecclesiastical writer, b. at Chars-en-Vexin, France, c. 1600; d. at Paris, May 11, 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 Berulle’s “Elevation” (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. Honore. Among other works he published “Vie de St. Nicholas, archeveque de Myre” (1646); “Pallium Archiepiscopale” (1648—the first serious study published in France on the significance, tradition, and use of that vestment); “Histoire chretienne” (1656); “La curiosite de rune et l’autre Rome” (1655-59); “Caremoniale Canonicorum” (1657—a practical guide on Roman lines); “Histoire de la sainte chapelle de Lorette” (1665).
JOHN B. PETERSON