Stone & Incense Search
Start hereCurious, or no faithEvangelical, Pentecostal or ProtestantFrom another faithSomeone I love is CatholicBecoming CatholicI was Catholic once Today in the ChurchLibraryHard questionsVoices of the revivalTake the next stepAboutSources & methodSupport the site
The saints

St. Isidore of Seville

The bishop who tried to write down everything people knew, in one book.

Feast: 4 April · about 560 to 636 · The early Church · Seville, Spain

Read the story 1 min read
Medieval painting of St. Isidore of Seville seated, holding a pen.

Meister des Codex 167. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Isidore of Seville

Seville, the 7th century

Isidore succeeded his brother Leander as archbishop of Seville.1

Spain was coming out of centuries of turmoil, and learning was being lost.1

So he wrote the Etymologies, an encyclopedia of everything from grammar to medicine to theology.

Patron of internet and computer users1

01St. Isidore of Seville

A school in every diocese

He pushed for a school in every diocese and wrote rules for monks and books of history.1

He gave away so much to the poor that, at the end, crowds came to his door.1

02St. Isidore of Seville

The internet’s patron

Because he tried to gather all knowledge in one place, many call him patron of the internet.1

Live it this week

Use the internet to learn something true

Isidore gathered knowledge to serve God. Spend thirty minutes this week reading one real Catholic source online (a Gospel chapter, a Catechism section, a saint’s life) instead of scrolling.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Isidore of Seville”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.