ISIDORE of Seville
Also known as
Isidore the Bishop; Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages
Memorial
4 April
Profile
Brother of Saint Fulgentius, Saint Florentina, and Saint Leander, who raised him after their father’s death. Initially a poor student, he gave the problem over to God and became one of the most learned men of his time. Priest. Converted the leader of the Arians. Hermit. Archbishop of Seville, succeeding his brother to the office. Teacher, founder, reformer. Required seminaries in every diocese, wrote a rule for religious orders. Prolific writer including a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a history of Goths and a history of the world beginning with creation. Completed the Mozarabic liturgy which is still in use in Toledo, Spain. Presided at the Second Council of Seville, and the Fourth Council of Toledo. Introduced the works of Aristotle to Spain. Probably the most learned man of his day, proclaimed Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XIV in 1722, and patron of computer users and the Internet in 1999.
Born
c.560 @ Cartagena, Spain
Died
4 April 636 @ Seville, Spain
Patronage
computer technicians, computer users, computers, the Internet, schoolchildren, students
Representation
bishop holding a pen surrounded by a swarm of bees; bishop standing near a beehive; bees; pen; old bishop with a prince at his feet; with pen and book; with his Etymologia; with his brothers and sister Saint Leander, Saint Fulgentius, and Saint Florentina
Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. If a man wants to be always in God’s company, he must pray regularly and read regularly. When we pray, we talk to God; when we read, God talks to us.
All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection. By reading we learn what we did not know; by reflection we retain what we have learned.
Reading the holy Scriptures confers two benefits. It trains the mind to understand them; it turns man’s attention from the follies of the world and leads him to the love of God.
The conscientious reader will be more concerned to carry out what he has read than merely to acquire knowledge of it. In reading we aim at knowing, but we must put into practice what we have learned in our course of study.
The more you devote yourself to study of the sacred utterances, the richer will be your understanding of them, just as the more the soil is tilled, the richer the harvest.
The man who is slow to grasp things but who really tries hard is rewarded, equally he who does not cultivate his God-given intellectual ability is condemned for despising his gifts and sinning by sloth.
Learning unsupported by grace may get into our ears; it never reaches the heart. But when God’s grace touches our innermost minds to bring understanding, his word which has been received by the ear sinks deep into the heart.
from the Book of Maxims by Saint Isidore
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“Heresy is from the Greek word meaning ‘choice’…. But we are not permitted to believe whatever we choose, nor to choose whatever someone else has believed. We have the Apostles of God as authorities, who did not…choose what they would believe but faithfully transmitted the teachings of Christ. So, even if an angel from heaven should preach otherwise, he shall be called anathema.”
-Saint Isidore
*note – just quoting, i’m still an agnostic! 🙂 -scotto*