Saint Who?
Saints Who Were Close to Nature
Saint Isidore of Seville
Bishop and Doctor († 636) Feast: April 4
Isidore is most often remembered for his service as a bishop rather than his love of the natural world. As the bishop of Seville, Isidore was instrumental in converting the Visigothic kings from Arianism to Catholicism. He wrote an influential rule of life for monks and served as a spiritual guide. He was also the first great Christian encyclopedist.
Isidore was apparently much younger than his siblings. He was primarily raised by his brother Leander, who was a bishop and a strict teacher. It is said that young Isidore had run away from his lessons one day and was entranced by the sight of water dripping onto a rock and gradually forming holes, when Leander found him, dragged him back home, and told him to stop wasting time.
But it was Isidore’s curiosity about the world around him that made him the greatest scholar of his age. Not only did he write about Catholic theology—he collected information about music, medicine, geography, clothing, war, language, animals, plants, astronomy, and physics. He compiled this information and carefully arranged it into textbooks that were used by scholars for generations to come. It’s no wonder he was named a Doctor of the Church and came to be regarded as a patron saint of the internet.
Creator God, grant us a sense of wonder
about the world you have created.
