Saint Isidore of Seville

Saint Isidore of Seville , c.560-636, Spanish churchman and encyclopedist, bishop of Seville, Doctor of the Church. Born of a noble Hispano-Roman family from Cartagena, he spent his youth under the supervision of his brother St. Leander, powerful bishop of Seville, and may have helped the latter in the extirpation of Arianism among the Visigoths. During his own tenure of the bishopric (from c.600) Isidore wielded considerable ecclesiastical power; he presided at the second Council of Seville (619) and at the fourth national Council of Toledo (633). He is best known, however, for his voluminous writings. His most influential work is the Etymologies or Origins, an encyclopedic treatise that aims to set down all the knowledge of the time. It is a comprehensive work in plan, and it transmitted to scholars of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance a great measure of classical learning. It was, however, a completely derived work, unenlightened by firsthand observation, and sometimes faulty in its scholarship. His Historia de Regibus Gothorum, Vandalorum et Suevorum [history of the reigns of the Goths, Vandals, and Suevi] continues to be useful in studying the early history of Spain. He also wrote many treatises on theology, language, natural history, and other subjects. His great learning and defense of education before the rising tide of Gothic barbarism was important to the development of Spanish culture. Feast: Apr. 4.

Bibliography: See studies by E. Brehaut (1912); Sister P. Mullins (1940); G. Donini and G. B. Ford (1970).

Isidore male forename, name of two saints.
St Isidore of Seville (c.560–636), a Spanish archbishop and Doctor of the Church. He is noted for his Etymologies, an encyclopedic work used by many medieval authors. His feast day is 4 April.
St Isidore the farmer (c.1080–1130), the Spanish patron of Madrid, and of farmers; he worked as a labourer on a farm near Madrid, and according to one legend was once seen being assisted in his ploughing by a second team of white oxen driven by angels. His emblem is a sickle, and his feast day is 15 May.

Isidore of Seville (c.560–636) Archbishop of Seville from c.600 and a distinguished administrator, teacher, and writer. His works include Etymologies, which was an encyclopedia, and books on history, natural science, linguistic studies, and theology. Pope Clement VIII canonized him in 1598.