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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Saint Isidore of Seville, younger brother of Leander, bishop of Seville, and great friend of Pope Gregory the Great, is considered the last of the ancient Christian Fathers. Continuing his series of catecheses on the Fathers of the Church, the Holy Father Benedict XVI chose to focus on the figure of Saint Isidore of Seville during his General Audience on Wednesday, June 18. This saint was formed spiritually and culturally under the guidance of his brother, Leander. “Leander and Isidore's home had quite a rich library of classical, pagan and Christian works. Isidore, who felt attracted simultaneously to both one and the other, was taught, therefore, to develop, under the watchfulness of his elder brother, a very strong discipline in dedicating himself to their study with discretion and discernment,” the Pope explained. From his works themselves, emerges “an encyclopedic knowledge of the pagan classical culture and in-depth knowledge of Christian culture,” that explains the eclecticism that characterizes Isidore's literary output.
In 599, Isidore succeeded his brother, Leander, as Bishop of Seville. Shortly after his death in 636, the Council of Toledo in 653 defined him as: “Illustrious teacher of our time and glory of the Catholic Church.” “Isidore was without a doubt a man of accentuated dialectical oppositions. And, also in his personal life, he experienced a permanent interior conflict, rather like that which St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine had already noted, between the desire for solitude, to dedicate themselves solely to meditation on the word of God, and the exigencies of charity toward his neighbors, for whose salvation, as bishop, he felt responsible.”
Isidore lived in a very complex historical and political time period, in which the Visigoths, Barbarians, and Arians invaded the Iberian Peninsula and Isidore, as a youth, had to live the bitter experience of exile. “Despite this, he was permeated with apostolic enthusiasm: He experienced the rapture of contributing to the formation of a people who were finally rediscovering their unity, whether on the political or the religious plane, with the providential conversion of Erminigild, the heir to the Visigothic throne, from Arianism to the Catholic faith. However, we must not underestimate the enormous difficulties he faced in adequately addressing very grave problems such as those of relations with the heretics and the Jews.”
The Pope then highlighted how Isidore could be admired for his “persistent desire not to neglect anything of that which human experience had produced in the history of his homeland and of the whole world. Isidore did not wish to lose anything that was acquired by man in ancient times, whether pagan, Jewish or Christian.” Although in pursuing this purpose, “at times he was not successful in passing on adequately, as he would have wished, the knowledge he possessed through the purifying waters of the Christian faith.” In fact, “in Isidore's intentions, the proposals he makes are always in harmony with the Catholic faith, which he firmly upheld.” The Holy Father recalled his capacity to perceive the complexity of the various theological problems and to suggest “with acuity solutions that take up and express the complete Christian truth. This enabled believers through the course of the centuries and up to our times to benefit with gratitude from his definitions.”
In an effort to guide his faithful in a balanced and upright relation between contemplative and active life, Isidore looked to Christ as the Model, and wrote: “In fact, as we must love God with contemplation, so we must love our neighbor with action. It is impossible, therefore, to live without the presence of one and the other way of life, nor is it possible to love if one has no experience of one or the other.” The Holy Father then concluded his catechesis with the following words: “I hold that this is the synthesis of a life that seeks the contemplation of God, dialogue with God in prayer and the reading of sacred Scripture, as well as action in the service of the human community and of one's neighbor. This synthesis is the lesson that the great bishop of Seville leaves us, Christians of today, called to witness to Christ at the beginning of a new millennium.”
At the end of the greetings in various languages, Benedict XVI mentioned the International Eucharistic Congress that is taking place in Quebec, with these words: “My thoughts are now turned to the participants in the International Eucharistic Congress which is now taking place in Quebec City, in Canada, on the theme of ‘The Eucharist: gift of God for the life of the world.’ I am spiritually present at this most solemn ecclesial meeting, and I trust it will be a time rich in prayer, reflection and contemplation of the mystery of the Blessed Eucharist, for the Christian communities of Canada and for the Universal Church. May it also be a propitious moment in which to reaffirm the Church's faith in the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Let us join in praying, as well, that this International Eucharistic Congress may revive in believers - not just in Canada but in many other nations in the world - an awareness of the evangelical and spiritual values that have forged their identity.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 19/6/2008)
