Saint Isidore of Seville
Archbishop and Doctor of the Church(c. 560 – April 4, 636)
Feast – April 4
The Roman Empire was quickly disappearing. In the sixth century, Spain was beginning to emerge from the blended racial elements that made up its population. Spain was split in two: the Catholic Romans struggled with the Arian Goths. For two centuries the Goths reigned over Spain, and their barbarous manners and contempt of learning threatened to greatly set back her development.
In c.560 St. Isidore was born in Cartagena, Spain, a former Carthaginian colony, to Severianus and Theodora. Both Severianus and Theodora belonged to notable Hispano-Roman families of high social rank. His parents were members of an influential family who were instrumental in the political-religious maneuvering that converted the Visigothic kings from Arianism to Catholicism. His two brothers, Leander, Archbishop of Seville, Fulgentius, Bishop of Ecija (Astigi), and his sister Florentina, a nun who lead over forty convents and one thousand religious, are recognized by the Church as Saints.
St. Isidore received his elementary education in the Cathedral school of Seville. In this institution, the first of its kind in Iberia, a body of learned men including Archbishop Saint Leander of Seville taught the trivium and quadrivium, the classic liberal arts. Despairing over his poor success in study St. Isidore ran away from school. Resting in his flight at a roadside spring, he observed a stone, which had been hollowed out by the slow but constant dripping of water. This lesson caused him to return. He went back to his master and with the help of God applied himself to study diligently. He quickly mastered Latin, acquired some Greek and Hebrew, rapidly becoming one of the most learned men of the time. At a time of rising barbarism, aristocratic violence and illiteracy, St. Isidore was involved in the conversion of the Arian Visigothic kings to Catholicism, both assisting his brother St. Leander of Seville, and continuing after his brother’s death. He was influential in the inner circle of Sisebut, king of Spain. Like St. Leander, he played a prominent role in the Councils of Toledo and Seville. The legislation that resulted from these councils influenced the beginnings of representative government.
Whether St. Isidore ever embraced monastic life or not is still an open question, but though he himself may never have been affiliated with any of the religious orders, he esteemed them highly. On the death of his brother St. Leander, on 13 March 600 or 601, he was called to fill the vacant see of Seville. On his elevation to the episcopate he immediately constituted himself protector of the monks. In 619 he pronounced anathema against any ecclesiastic who should in any way molest the monasteries. Beginning on November 13th, 619, he presided over the Second Council of Seville, during the reign of King Sisebut, a provincial council attended by eight other bishops, all from the ecclesiastical province of Baetica in southern Spain. The Acts of the Council fully set forth the nature of Christ, countering the conceptions of Gregory, a Syrian representing the heretical Acephali.
As a teacher, ruler, founder, and reformer, he labored not only in his own diocese, but throughout Spain, and his influence attained foreign countries. His long incumbency, more than 32 years to this office was spent in a period of disintegration and transition. The ancient institutions and classic learning lead to him realizing that the spiritual, as well as the material, well-being of the nation depended on the full assimilation of foreign elements. Thus St. Isidore set himself to the task of merging the various peoples who made up the Hispano-Gothic kingdom into a homogeneous nation. To this end he availed himself of all his resources of religion and education. St. Isidore is known to have presided over an additional provincial council around 624, but it was the Fourth National Council of Toledo that afforded him the greatest opportunity of service to his county. At this council, which began on the 5th of December 633, all the bishops of Spain were in attendance. St. Isidore, though far advanced in years, presided over its deliberations, and was the originator of most of its enactments. It was at this council and through his influence that a decree was promulgated commanding all bishops to establish seminaries in their Cathedral Cities, along the lines of the school already existing at Seville. Within his own jurisdiction he had availed himself of the resources of education to counteract the growing influence of Gothic barbarism. His was the quickening spirit that animated the educational movement at which Seville was the center. The study of Greek and Hebrew as well as the liberal arts was prescribed. Interest in law and medicine was also encouraged. Through the authority of the fourth council this policy of education was made obligatory upon all the bishops of the kingdom. Long before the Arabs had awakened to an appreciation of Greek Philosophy, he had introduced Aristotle to his countrymen.
His efforts were rewarded with complete success. Arianism, which had taken deep root among the Visigoths, was eradicated, and the heresy of Acephales was completely stifled at the very outset; religious discipline was strengthened everywhere. St. Isidore reunited Spain, making it a center of culture and learning. The country served as a teacher and guide for other European countries whose culture was also threatened by barbarian invaders.
An amazingly learned man, St. Isidore wrote numerous books, including a dictionary, a history of Goths, and a history of the world—beginning with creation! He completed the Mozarabic liturgy, which is still in use in Toledo, Spain. He was sometimes called “The Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages” because the encyclopedia (the first such Christian tome—formed from a huge compilation of 448 chapters in 20 volumes) he wrote was used as a textbook for nine centuries.
Following a call from God, he turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of his friends, and embraced a hermit’s life. Prince Recared and many of the nobles and clergy of Seville went to persuade him to come back, representing the needs of the times and the good he could do, and had already done, among the people. He refused, and, continued his austerities even as he approached age 80. During the last six months of his life, he increased his charities so much that his house was crowded from morning till night with the poor of the countryside.
He died in Seville on April 4, 639. The Eighth Council of Toledo (653) recorded its admiration of his character in these glowing terms: “The extraordinary doctor, the latest ornament of the Catholic Church, the most learned man of the latter ages, always to be named with reverence, Isidore.”
References and Excerpts:
[1] F. Media, “Saint Isidore of Seville,” Franciscan Media, 04-Apr-2016.
[2] “Saint Isidore, Archbishop and Doctor of the Church.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_isidore.html. [Accessed: 05-Apr-2019].
[3] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Isidore of Seville.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08186a.htm. [Accessed: 05-Apr-2019].
[4] “Isidore of Seville,” Wikipedia. 04-Apr-2019.