Saint Isidore. Bishop. Confessor. Doctor Of The Church. Feast Day 4 April.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless stated otherwise.

Saint Isidore.
   Bishop.
   Confessor.
   Doctor Of The Church.
   Feast Day 4 April.

Double.

White Vestments.

Saint Isidor of Sevilla.

Artist: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682).

Date: 1655.

Collection: Seville Cathedral.

Source/Photographer: [2]

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Isidore, brother of Saint Leander, succeeded him in 601 A.D. as Archbishop of Seville (Communion). In his Sermon on The Gospel of The Day, where Jesus compares The Apostles and their successors “to The Salt of The Earth and to The Light that sheds its rays on all those within the house,” the Saint lays down the duties of a Bishop.

“Above all, a Bishop, to accomplish his Office, must read The Scriptures, study The Canons, imitate the examples of The Saints, devote himself to watching, Fasting, and Prayer, unite humility with authority, and place his Chastity under the guard of Charity, a Virtue without which all the others are nothing.”

He realised this ideal. Versed in all knowledge, he was considered the most learned man of his Century. An indefatigable Preacher of the Gospel, he opposed The Arians and other heretics “who closed their ears to Truth and opened them to fables” (Epistle).

Wherefore, hardly sixteen years after his death in 636 A,D,, The Synod of Toledo, composed of fifty-two Bishops, proclaimed him “excellent Doctor (Collect) and the most recent glory of The Catholic Church”.

Saint Isidore was, for us here below, a Doctor of Life: May he now intercede for us in Heaven (Collect).

Mass: In médio.
Commemoration (in Lent): Of The Feria.
Last Gospel (in Lent): Of The Feria.