St. Isidore of Seville was Spain’s greatest teacher, and is named a doctor of the Church.

He was born to a noble Spanish family in 560 AD and had two brothers and a sister who also became saints and took important leadership roles in the Church. Educated by his brother, Isidore discovered a love of learning that he transmitted everywhere he went. He helped his brother, who was a bishop, and later succeeded him as archbishop of Seville, where he served for 37 years.

As archbishop, he called for a seminary in every diocese and established a comprehensive educational system. In time, as Europe fell into the Middle Ages, Spain remained a center of learning and culture thanks to his vision to unite religion and learning. Under his leadership, schools in Spain taught liberal arts, medicine, law, Hebrew, and Greek. He even mandated teaching the works of Aristotle, which would not emerge in other areas of Europe for hundreds of years.

Isidore helped to govern the Church in Spain by calling councils. He rejected dictatorial decisions, and the representative councils he used for major decisions were a forerunner to the European parliamentary system.

His own learning was immense—he is known as the “schoolmaster of the Middle Ages.” He wrote an encyclopedia that was referenced for 1,000 years and produced works on astronomy, geography, world history, biographies, law, theology, and histories of various peoples.

Isidore lived to nearly 80 years old, and his piety and devotions increased the older he became. In his last months, his house was swarmed with poor people who knew they could receive help from him. One of the last things he did was to give everything he had to the poor.

St. Isidore was declared a doctor of the Church, a title given to 36 saints who are known for elucidating the faith by their words or example. Because of the universality of his knowledge, he is a patron saint of computers and the Internet, and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus. His image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.

St. Isidore of Seville, your learning made Spain a beacon of light during the Dark Ages—pray for us!