TODAY'S SAINT (Isidore of Seville)

ISIDORE OF SEVILLE

(ca. 560-363)

Archbishop of Seville, Doctor of the Church,

Father of the Church

Also known as: Isidore the Bishop; Schoolmaster

of the Middle Ages

 

 

The last of the great Latin Fathers, Isidore was born at Cartagena, Spain, about 560, into a noble Hispano-Rome family. His elder brother Leander,  younger brother Fulgentius and sister Florentina also came to hold senior positions withhin the Christian Church.

    Isidor received his elementary education in the cathedral school of Seville, the first of its kind in Spain. His brother Leander, then archbishop of Seville, was one of his teachers. As he matured, Isidore most likely assisted Leander in governing the archdiocese, because he succeeded him as  archbbishop in 601.

     As archbishop, Isidore devoted himself to strengthening the Spanish Church. He worked  hard too turn the Visigoths away from the Arian  heresy, rewriting liturgies and breviaries for their use. He convened councils  at Seville in 613 and Toledo in 633. At the latter, attended  by all the bishops of Spain, he was given precedence over the local archbishop on the basis of his   exceptional merit as the  greatest teacher in the country. Indeed, it was in  the area of education that Isido made his greatest mark,  earning him him sobriquet, "Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages." At the Toledo council, he introduced and saw passed  a degree commanding all dioceses to establish cathedral schools along the lines of that school he himself had attended in Seville. He compiled a 20-volume encyclopedia of knowledge (containing information on everything  that was  known in seventh century Europe),  a chronicle of events from the Creation to his own time, and history of the  Goths and Vandals He  completed and updated St. Jerome's biographies of the great men and women of the Bible. He also wrote books on theology, astronomy and geography, as well as new  rules for monasteries.

    As he felt his  death approaching, he invited two bishops to visit him. On April 4, 636, they accompanied him to the   church, where one covered him with a sackcloth while the other put ashes on his head. Thus  dressed in the habit of a penitent, Isidore raised his hands  to heaven and prayed for for-giveness. After receiving the viaticum, he asked for the prayers of those present, forgave those who had sinned against him, exhorted all to charity, bequeathed his earthly possessions to the poor and gave up his soul to God.

     In art,  IIsidore is depicted as an elderly bishop with a pen and a book, or with his encyclopedia. Sometimes he is shown with his brothers and sisters, SS. Leander, Fulgentius and Florentina. More rarely, he is a bishop standing near a beehive, or surrounded by bees--bees symbolizing oratorical eloquence. 

 

PRAYER

Lord, hear our  prayers, which we offer on the commemoration of St. Isidore. May Your Church be instructed by his teaching. Amen.

 

     Canonized: 1598 by Pope Clement VIII

     Declared Doctor of the Divinity of Christ: 1722 by

          Pope Innocent XIII

     Feast: April 4

     Patronage: computer technicians; computer users;

           computers; the Internet; savants; students