Saint Isidore, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor
S. Isidori Episcopi Confessoris et Ecclesiae Doctoris
Saint Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636) was a bishop, scholar, and Doctor of the Church, who laboured to instruct the people of Spain and to gather the learning of the ancient world for the service of the faith. His feast is kept on 4 April.
Saint Isidore was born around the year 560 at Seville, in what was then Visigothic Spain, into a remarkable family that gave several saints to the Church. He succeeded his elder brother, Saint Leander, as Archbishop of Seville, and governed that see for some thirty-five years. He lived in an age of great change, when the peoples of Spain were being knit together in the Catholic faith, and he gave himself wholly to the instruction, unity, and good order of the Church in his land.
Bishop and Scholar
As a bishop, Saint Isidore worked tirelessly for the formation of clergy and people. He took a leading part in the councils of the Spanish Church, which under his guidance set wise norms for ecclesiastical life and learning, and he promoted the founding of schools so that those who served the altar might be properly instructed. He laboured for the strengthening of the faith throughout the kingdom and for the unity of all in the one Catholic Church.
Saint Isidore was also among the most learned men of his time. His most famous work, the Etymologies, is a vast encyclopedia that gathered and preserved the knowledge of the ancient world — on the Scriptures and the liturgy, on the sciences and the arts — and handed it on to the centuries that followed. Through this and many other writings on Scripture, history, and the discipline of the Church, he did much to preserve learning at a time when so much might have been lost.
Doctor of the Church
Saint Isidore died at Seville in 636. He was venerated as a saint soon after his death and was later declared a Doctor of the Church. In him the Church honours a faithful shepherd who joined sound learning to zealous care for souls.
The Collect
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we may be aided by the merits and teaching of blessed Isidore, Thy Confessor and Doctor; and that, defended by his patronage, we may follow his life and doctrine. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut beati Isidori Confessoris tui atque Doctoris nos et merita adiuvent et doctrina illuminet. Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Patronage
Saint Isidore of Seville is widely invoked as a patron of students and of those who labour to gather and pass on knowledge, and in modern times he has been proposed as a patron of those who work with the internet.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar, this feast is observed as an optional memorial on the same date, 4 April.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Isidore of Seville?
His feast is kept on 4 April in both the traditional and the modern calendars. In the modern calendar it is an optional memorial.
Who was Saint Isidore?
He was the Archbishop of Seville in seventh-century Spain, a Doctor of the Church renowned both for his care of souls and for his great learning. He worked for the instruction of clergy and people and gathered the knowledge of the ancient world in his writings.
What are the Etymologies?
The Etymologies is Saint Isidore’s famous encyclopedia, which collected and preserved the learning of the ancient world and passed it on to later generations. It was widely read and copied for many centuries.
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