(Short Version)
April 4: Saint Isidore, Bishop and Doctor of the Church—Optional Memorial
c.560–636
Patron Saint of computer technicians, the Internet, and students
Pre-Congregation canonization
Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1722 by Pope Innocent XIII
Isidore was born in Cartagena, modern-day Spain, to Severianus and Theodora, a well-respected, influential, and upper-class couple. His older brother, Leander, became a monk and then the Bishop of Seville. His younger brother, Fulgentius, became the Bishop of Astigi, and his sister, Florentina, became a nun of prominence. All three of his siblings are saints.
Isidore’s parents died when he was young, so Leander cared for the three younger children and was especially attentive to their education. Isidore received a thorough schooling in grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, astronomy, music, geometry, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and the Catholic faith. His interests were so vast that it has been said that Isidore knew everything. He also benefited greatly from the monks’ contemplative influence and was drawn to their life of deep prayer.
When Isidore was completing his education, the Visigoths ruled the Iberian Peninsula. As Christians who embraced the Arian heresy, the Visigoths caused much division between themselves and the Nicene Catholics they ruled. Isidore’s brother, Leander, became the Bishop of Seville in 580 and would remain for about twenty years. With Isadore’s help, Leander worked tirelessly to convert the Visigoths to the Nicene Creed and to reject Arianism. When a new king renounced Arianism and embraced the true faith, most of the Visigoths converted, bringing Christian unity to the Iberian Peninsula.
When Bishop Leander died around the year 600, Isidore became his successor in Seville and continued to strengthen the unified faith of Nicene Catholicism. People flocked to him, listened to his preaching, were awed by his vast knowledge, and inspired by his holiness. He was an intellectual and a contemplative, enjoying great confidence and trust from his people and other Church leaders.
One of Bishop Isidore’s great contributions to the Church and to the Western world was the Etymologiae, a comprehensive encyclopedia. The encyclopedia consisted of twenty volumes and summarized many of the past great writers, both pagan and Christian. Topics included grammar, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, geometry, music, astronomy, law, military science, languages, philosophers, architecture, clothing, food, cosmology, agriculture, mineralogy, physiology, zoology, and, of course, the Catholic faith. This encyclopedia became one of the most copied sets of books throughout the Middle Ages, directly influencing the Western world for more than 1,000 years.
Bishop Isidore also presided over a number of Church councils that were essential for strengthening the Church by purifying it of heretical teaching, setting up administrative church structures and disciplines, and helping unify the people and bish
