ST. ISIDORE OF SEVILLE - A Hagiography (By SimoTheFinlandized / Paul P. - 2022 CE)

==================================== ST. ISIDORE OF SEVILLE - A Hagiography And Look Into The Life Of The Patron-Saint Of The Internet (By SimoTheFinlandized / Paul Palazzolo - 2022 CE): ==================================== St. Isidore Of Seville was literally born into a family of saints in sixth- century Hispano-Roman Spain. Two of his brothers, Leander and Fulgentius, and one of his sisters, Florentina, are all collectively revered as saints in Spain. It was also a family of great ecclesiastical leaders and strong above-average intelligent minds, with both Leander and Fulgentius serving as influential Spanish bishops, in addition to Florentina being an abbess. ==================================== This genius-level intelligence and nigh-genetic predisposition to the Roman-Catholic faith didn't really make life any easier for Isidore, however. To the contrary, Leander may have been quite holy in many ways (considering he is a canonized saint, after all), but his treatment of his little brother while Isidore was a child both shocked and appalled many people even at the time. Leander, who was much older than Isidore, took over Isidore's education, and his pedagogical theory involved quite a lot of brute force and punishment. We know from Isidore's later accomplishments that he was intelligent and hard-working, so it is hard to understand why Leander thought abuse would work instead of patience. ===================================== One day, the young boy simply couldn't take it any more. Frustrated by his inability to learn as fast as his brother wanted him to, and also quite psycho-emotionally hurt by his elder brother's ill treatment, Isidore ran away from home. But though he could escape his brother's hand and words, he couldn't escape his own internal feeling of failure and rejection. When he finally let the outside world catch his attention, he noticed water dripping on the rock near where he sat. The drops of water that fell repeatedly carried no force and seemed to have no effect on the solid stone. And yet he saw that over time, the water drops had worn holes in the rock. ==================================== Isidore then realized that if he kept working diligently at his studies, his seemingly small and insignificant efforts would eventually pay off big-time in very great learning. He also may have hoped that his efforts at getting better with his studies would also wear down the seemingly solid and unmovable rock of his elder brother's heart. ==================================== When he eventually returned home, however, his brother in enraged exasperation confined him to a cell (probably in a local monastery) to complete his studies, not really believing Isidore's promise that he wouldn't run away again. ==================================== Either there must have been some kind of a loving side to this sibling relationship, or Isidore was remarkably meek and forgiving (even for a saint), because later he would work side-by-side with his elder brother in both ecclesiastical and educational affairs. After Leander's death, Isidore would go on to 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 resilient enough to be able to separate the abusive way in which he was taught from the exceedingly great joy of learning. He didn't run from learning after he left his brother but actually embraced education with a fiery passion, and soon made it his life's greatest work. Isidore was able to rise above his past to eventually become known as the greatest intellectual in all of Spain. ===================================== His fervent love of learning made him promote the establishment of a Roman-Catholic seminary within every diocese of Spain. He didn't limit his own studies, and also didn't want others to fall into that habit as well. In a very unique move, he made sure that all branches of both academic and technical knowledge, including that of the arts and medicine, were taught in the seminaries in addition to the standard Roman-Catholic theology, philosophy, and divinity that we are used to clerics learning in-seminary. ======================================== His own self-compiled and self-edited encyclopedia of general knowledge, "The Etymologies", was a very popular textbook for well over nine centuries. He also wrote a lot of books and treatises on the subjects of grammar, astronomy, geography, history, and biography as well as theology. When the Arabs eventually brought the study of Greco- Roman classical knowledge, such as that of Aristotle, back to Europe, this was nothing new to Spain because St. Isidore's open mind had already reintroduced the classical philosophical thought and great literary works of the Ancient-Greek philosopher to students there. ========================================= As the Archbishop Of Seville for over 37 years, and also succeeding his elder brother Leander in this clerical post, he set up a model for representative government in Europe. Under his direction, and perhaps remembering the tyrannies of his brother, he rejected autocratic decision-making and organized synods to discuss the government of the Spanish-based Roman-Catholic Church. ========================================= Still trying to wear away the rock with water, he also helped to convert by-and-large much of the Germanic -tribal barbarian Visigoths that ruled Spain from their heretical version of Christianity called "Arianism" to mainstream Roman-Catholicism as it was in communion with the Pope in Rome. ========================================= He lived until almost 80 years old. As he lie dying, his house was filled with large crowds of the poor and destitute of which he was giving aid and alms to. One of his final acts was to give all his worldly possessions to the poor. ========================================= When he died in 636 AD, this great Doctor Of The Church had achieved far more than his elder brother would have ever hoped; the blazing light of his learning caught fire in Spanish intellectual minds, and held back the Dark Ages of barbarism and depravity from early Medieval Spain. But even greater than his outstanding and genius-level mind must have been the flexing-of-genius of his heart that allowed him to see beyond rejection and discouragement to joy and possibility. =========================================