Brito of Trier

Saint Brito of Trier (Britto, Britonius) was bishop of Trier in Germany and reposed in 385 or 386. He is commemorated on 5 May in the Orthodox calendar, and in the diocese of Trier his feast falls on 6 May.

He first appears at a meeting of the bishops of Gaul at Valence on the Rhône in 374, where he held that those who fell away in the persecution under the emperor Julian (361 to 363) could return to the Church on certain conditions. He represented the Church of Gaul at the synod of Rome in 382, chaired by Pope Damasus I; the synod's letter to the bishops of the East has him as third signatory, after Damasus and Ambrose. He was also at the court of the emperor Maximus at Trier at the time of the trial of Priscillian, accused of heresy and sorcery. There he met Saint Martin of Tours and Saint Ambrose, who had come to Trier and tried in vain to prevent Priscillian's execution. Britto firmly opposed the Priscillianists but refused to hand them over to the State for punishment. His grave is in the church of Saint Paulinus at Trier.