Ecclesiastical leader and scholar: he forged European culture

Today we celebrate Saint Isidore of Seville (560-636). He was the younger brother of Saint Leander, bishop of Seville. In the year 599, the young Isidore became his brother Leander's successor in the episcopal seat of Seville. He had to face a very tough inner struggle between the desire for solitude, to dedicate himself solely to the meditation on the word of God, and the demands of charity toward the brothers whose salvation he felt responsible for as a bishop. Saint Isidore wrote many works; the most important was the Etymologies, an encyclopedia that compiled all the knowledge of his time. —Saint Isidore sought in the example of Christ the definitive confirmation of a correct orientation of life and said: "Just as one must love God through contemplation, one must also love one's neighbor through action."