St. Isidore

St. Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) was archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and one of the most learned men of his age, often called the last scholar of the ancient world. Born at Cartagena in Spain to a devout family, he belonged to an extraordinary household of saints: his brothers Leander and Fulgentius and his sister Florentina are all venerated as saints. Educated largely under the direction of his elder brother St. Leander, Isidore acquired a command of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew learning that was rare in his troubled century. Around the year 600 he succeeded Leander as archbishop of Seville. Spain was then ruled by the Visigoths, only recently converted from Arianism to Catholic faith, and Isidore devoted his episcopate to consolidating that conversion, rooting out heresy, reforming the liturgy, and raising the standard of clerical education. He presided over important councils, including the Second Council of Seville (619) and the great Fourth Council of Toledo (633), which decreed that a school be established in every diocese — a landmark in the history of Christian education. His most famous work, the Etymologies, is a vast encyclopedia that gathered the learning of classical antiquity — grammar, law, medicine, theology, natural science, and much else — into twenty books. For nearly a thousand years it served as a standard reference of medieval Europe, preserving countless fragments of ancient knowledge that would otherwise have been lost. He also wrote histories of the Goths, works on Scripture, theology, and the natural world, completing a program of learning placed wholly at the service of the Church. Isidore died at Seville on April 4, 636, after publicly doing penance and giving away his possessions to the poor. He was canonized in 1598 by Pope Clement VIII and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1722. His relics were translated in 1063 to the city of León, where they rest in the Royal Basilica of San Isidoro, a major stop on pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela. His feast is April 4, and because his encyclopedia attempted to organize all human knowledge, he has been proposed and is popularly invoked as patron of the internet, computer users, and students.