Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?April_4th_=E2=80=93_St_Isidore_of_Seville?= To : All From : rich Date : Thu Apr 02 2020 10:22:48 From: rich April 4th =E2=80=93 St Isidore of Seville (560-636) =C2 Patron of The Internet, Father & Doctor of the Church Even saints run away, at first.=C2 Peter, all of them, ran away, at first.=C2 Isidore ran away, too.=C2 Isidore served as Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades as the classical world was fading away and the Dark Ages loomed on every side.=C2 He is considered, =E2=80= =9CThe last scholar of the ancient world=E2=80=9D. Once, when Isidore was a boy, he ran away from home and from school. His brother Leander, some twenty years older than he, was his teacher, and a very strict and demanding one. Isidore despaired of ever pleasing his brother in his studies.=C2 While Isidore sat by himself out in the woods, loafing and feeling sorry for himself, he watched some drops of water falling on a rock. Then he noticed that the dripping water had worn a hole in the hard rock! The thought came to him that he could do what the little drops of water did. Little by little, by sticking to it, he could learn all his brother demanded, and maybe even more. Isidore realized that if he kept working at his studies, his seemingly small efforts would eventually pay off in great learning. He also may have hoped that his efforts would also wear down the rock of his brother's heart.=C2 When he returned home, however, his brother = in exasperation confined him to a cell (probably in a monastery) to complete his studies, not believing that he wouldn't run away again= ... Either there must have been a loving side to this relationship or Isidore was remarkably forgiving, even for a saint, because later he would work side by side with his brother and after Leander's death, Isidore would complete many of the projects he began including a missal and breviary. In a time where it's fashionable to blame the past for our present = and future problems, Isidore was able to separate the abusive way he was taught from the joy of learning. He didn't run from learning after = he left his brother but embraced education and made it his life's work= ... Isidore rose above his past to become known as the greatest teacher in Spain.=C2 His love of learning made him promote the establishment of a seminary in every diocese of Spain. He didn't limit his own studies and didn't want others to as well. In a unique move, he made sure t= hat all branches of knowledge including the arts and medicine were taught in the seminaries. His encyclopedia of knowledge, the Etymologies, was a popular textbook for nine centuries. He also wrote books on grammar, astronomy, geography, history, and biography as well as theology. When the Arabs brought study of Aristotle back to Europe, this was nothing new to Spain because Isidore's open mind had already reintroduced the philosopher to students there. Still trying to wear away rock with water, he helped convert the barbarian Visigoths from Arianism, which denies the divinity of Christ, to Catholicism.=C2 By the time of his death, the light of his learning caught fire in Spanish minds and held back the Dark Ages of barbarism from Spain. But even greater than his outstanding mind must have been the genius of his heart that allowed him to see beyond rejection and discouragement to joy and possibility.=C2 Many of his remains are interred in the cathedral of Murcia, Spain. -by Jos=C3=A9 Alcoverro, 1892, outside the Biblioteca Nacional de Espa=C3= =B1a, in Madrid. St. Isidore Quotes =E2=80=9CHeresy is from the Greek word meaning =E2=80=98choice'=E2= =80=A6. But we are not permitted to believe whatever we choose, nor to choose whatever someone else has believed. We have the Apostles of God as authorities, who did not=E2=80=A6choose what they would believe but faithfully transmitt= ed the teachings of Christ. So, even if an angel from heaven should preach otherwise, he shall be called anathema.=E2=80=9D --Saint Isidore =E2=80=9CIndeed, just as we must love God in contemplation, so we must love our neighbor with action,=E2=80=9D he declared. =E2=80=9CIt is therefore im= possible to live without the presence of both the one and the other form of life, nor can we live without experiencing both the one and the other.=E2=80=9D --Saint Isidore =E2=80=9CIn confession there is mercy. Believe it firmly, do not doubt, do = not hesitate, never despair of the mercy of God.=E2=80=9D --St. Isidore of Seville <><><><> Almighty and eternal God, who created us in Thy image and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful, especially in the divine person of Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that, through the intercession of Saint Isidore, bishop and doctor, during our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter. Through Christ our Lord. Amen --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .