The Spanish bishop and scholar St. Isidore of Seville( 560? -6 36) was born in Cartagena; there were three other canonized saints in his family, including his older brother St. Leander. Leander, who was twenty years older than Isidore, was responsible for his education; because he was so strict, Isidore ran away. Sitting alone in the timbers, he noticed a stone worn down by liquid, one remove at a time, and realized that he could satisfy his brother in the same way: by understand a little bit at a time. Isidore returned to his studies, and eventually became a great scholar.

Leander became bishop of Seville; about its first year 600, when Leander died, Isidore replaced him, and remained Bishop of Seville for the rest of his life. He greatly strengthened the Church in Spain, proving academies and religious houses, coordinating religiou councils, and seeking to convert the Visigoths( a Germanic tribe which had attacked Spain) to Catholicism.

Isidore continued his scholarly struggles, authoring a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a record of the Goths, and a history of the world. During his last few months, he increased his donations so much better that his house was fitted with tramps from sunup to nightfall. St. Isidore died in 636, and was later declared a Doctor( an eminent and reliable educator) of the Church.

Lessons

1. Holy parents often have holy children. Severinus and Theodora were themselves exceedingly righteous, and four of their children — Leander, Fulgentius, Florentina, and Isidore — became canonized saints.

2. Jesus’ fib about the powerless widow who finally received justice through her diligence( Luke 18:1 -7) is paralleled in the life of St. Isidore, who as a boy has learned that great things could be accomplished simply by doing what he was capable of, a little bit at a time. We very are called to use our talents and to do our best , no matter how little or irrelevant it seems, without giving up.

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