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Placidus Braun

Bavarian historian (1756-1829)

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Braun, PLACIDUS, a Bavarian historian, b. at Peiting near Schongau in Upper Bavaria, 11 Februuary, 1756; d. at Augsburg, October 23, 1829. At thirteen he went as a choir-boy of the Benedictine Abbey of Saints Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg, and was a pupil for six years in the Jesuit gymnasium of the same city. He entered the Abbey of Saints Ulrich and Afra as a novice, May 13, 1775, and was ordained priest, September 18, 1779. In 1785 he was made head librarian of the abbey. He arranged and catalogued the library and made known to scholars the rarities it contained through the fine descriptions he gave of its early printed books and manuscripts in two works which he published while librarian. These publications were: “Notitia historico-litteraria de libris ab artis typographic inventione usque ad annum 1479 impressis, in bibliotheca monasterii ad SS. Udalricum et Afram Augustae extantibus. Pars I: Augs. Vindel. 1788. Pars II: Notitia … libros complectens ab anno 1480 usque ad annum 1500 inclusive impressos. Ibidem, 1789 “and “Notitia Historico-litteraria de codicibus manuscriptis in bibliotheca liberi ac imperialis monasterii O. S. Benedicti ad SS. Udalricum et Afram extantibus. August Vindel., 6 partes, 1791-1796”. After the abbey was dissolved, and its building converted into a barrack in 1806, Braun lived with a number of fellow-members of the order in a house near the church of St. Ulrich.

In these new surroundings he endeavored to observe the rules of the order as far as possible, gave assistance in pastoral work, and devoted himself to the study of the history of the Diocese of Augsburg and its suppressed monastic foundations. He was made a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of Munich, August 3, 1808, which honor he accepted, but he declined to settle in Munich. Among his historical writings the following are still valuable: “Geschichte der Bischofe von Augsburg, chronologisch and diplomatisch verfasst” (4 vols., Augsburg, 1813-15); “Codex diplomaticus monasterii S. Udalrici et Afrre notis illustratus”, issued as volumes XXII and XXIII of the “Monumenta Boica”, (Munich 1814-15); “Geschichte der Kirche and des Stiftes der hll. Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg” (Augsburg, 1817); “Historisch-topographische Beschreibung der Diocese Augsburg”, 2 vols. (Augsburg, 1823); “Die Domkirche zu Augsburg and der hohere and niedere Klerus an derselben” (Augsburg, 1829). Braun bequeathed his manuscripts, which were concerned chiefly with the history of the religious foundations and monastic houses of the Diocese of Augsburg, to the diocesan archives.

JOSEPH LINS


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