April 8th.

St. Isidore.

His family came from Cartagena on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, but Isidore himself was born in 560 in Seville, and was later to be archbishop of that city. His brother Leander, a monk, was responsible for his education; Isidore’s vast erudition spilled over into his books, which were of great influence in medieval clerical and monastic schools. He was archbishop of Seville for 36 years, giving the Spanish church a greater organisation and cohesion and weaning the Visigothic people back from the Arian heresy (which denied the divinity of Christ). Under his inspiration, it was decided that each diocese should establish a cathedral school to promote public education. A noted liturgist, Isidore finalised the texts of the Mozarabic Rite (the Rite of the Catholic Church used in those parts of Spain under Moorish rule – the Rite still exists today, though now confined to the city of Toledo and its environs). Isidore’s books are not all obviously theological, and serve to remind us that a ‘church’ education was a general education: the church inspired the universities, for example. One of his best known works is the Etymologies, an encyclopedia including the derivations of words on a host of different topics. Admittedly some of these derivations have since been shown to be wrong. Isidore died in 636, but ecclesiastical recognition does not always come quickly. He was canonised only in 1598 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1722.