St Isidore, 560-636. Doctor of Education, Feast April 4th

For all who have been discouraged as a student, failed in their studies, or dropped out of school, St Isidore can identify with you. These three setbacks and disappointments in the learning process happened to him and to many thousands of us today. That is an excellent reason to turn to Isidore in petition to gain strength and courage to use one's mind to fullest potential.

When you yearn to learn and to be holy, no doctor is gifted to lead you more than this saint. The educational doctor will exceed your expectations, needs, and desires. When you humbly and imploringly beseech God to guide you in holy knowledge and understanding through Isidore's intercession, you can be assured of his help.

Isidore knew the value and difference between learning and education. He grasped their connection through grace-God’s way of knowing. If we have jeopardized, minimized or overlooked our opportunity to learn, we might turn to God through Isidore. We can be assured of his assistance because he has given us an example through his extraordinary modeling. He was a master on how to love God through learning and supported others to be educated. That isn’t always easy. Why? Strange as it may sound, knowledge doesn’t always lead us to God or holiness.

The gift of knowledge is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit but that gift is not something that we merit or gain only through intellectual endeavor. It is above all a gift from God. The gift of knowledge is not discursive. It is intuitive; it has the divine character proper to the action of the Holy Spirit. It gives us an insight into the mysterious relationships between creatures and Creator. For more information about this gift and subject read True Devotion to Holy Spirit (formerly called The Sanctifier ) by Luis M. Martinez, former archbishop of Mexico, and published by Sophia Press: Recommended by Fr Benedict Groeschel and the late John Cardinal O'Connor. To order the book go to:

http://www.sophiainstitute.com

Professors, educators, learners and anyone involved in the design, development and implementation of education can easily get excited and surprised at Isidore’s great contributions to education. His efforts in seminaries and dioceses with regard to the training for the priesthood is monumental and lasting. All members of the church and society owe Isidore a tremendous debt and thankfulness. He unquestionably benefited millions through the seminaries he helped established and, more importantly, through his example and charity in assisting others to learn. He was convinced and demonstrated throughout his life that learning is a part of loving especially if it is done for God’s honor and the service of humankind.

Isidore’s learning and holiness enormously influenced the medieval culture. He was not only a guiding light to the church in diocese formation of seminaries and seminarians but also to the world for his achievements in education and learning.

As many doctors of the church before him, he felt called initially by God to become a hermit despite the pleading of his friends to take a different path to God. As it often happens, God calls us one way and then reverses the call to let us know that he who calls doesn’t stop calling and nothing is permanent in life but change. Two obvious examples are the deceased Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and Pope John Paul II. Both started their initial vocations in different directions. One changed from her original religious community to another and the other was denied entrance into a religious order not once but twice. No sooner was Isidore a hermit than God invited him to become an Archbishop of Seville following the death of one of his brothers. Both his brothers had been bishops. His sister was a nun with major responsibilities for many convents.

Archbishop Isidore was a teacher, educator, ruler, founder and reformer. He labored diligently not only in his own diocese but throughout Spain and even in foreign countries. He presided at the Council of Toledo one of the major twenty-one ecumenical counsels of the church. He was most instrumental in the church’s growth, reform and development.

Isidore required seminaries to be built in every dioceses, wrote rules for Religious Orders and founded schools that taught every branch of learning. He also wrote many books including an entire encyclopedia, dictionaries and a vast array of educational tools that promoted learning. His encyclopedia was used as a textbook for nine hundred years. He also wrote a history of the world. In Toledo, Spain, the Mozarabic liturgy, which he wrote, is still in use today.

He governed his diocese nearly thirty-seven years and despite all his erudition and learning he always remembered the poor. It was his custom to bring them into his house and it was crowded from sunrise to sunset. His knowledge humbled him and he always showed charity among the poor, the ignorant and the uneducated because he remembered that he too had quit school, failed, got discouraged, and even ran away from home once.

The saint combined holiness with learning and practiced it daily. He knew that learning without holiness would lead to pride and deterioration of soul and spirit. His learning promoted his sanctity and his sanctity spurred his learning and knowledge. It was especially aimed to educate people and always to strengthen individual members in service to the church. Isidore's driving passion and his major focus was to yearn to learn. God implanted this gift, thirst and longing in him throughout his lifetime. That is one reason why he may be considered the educational doctor. He yearned to know and love God and his neighbor through knowledge.

All the doctors emphasized that we can only truly know God intimately through divine love. Spiritual love is knowledge in the form of wisdom. God wants us to use our hearts and our minds fully in order to have full access and entrance into the inner life of the intelligent Supreme Being. Our efforts coupled with God’s graces will give us deeper insights, knowledge and full use of our understanding. Our intelligence united to our wanting the holy will of God will unite our hearts and minds with God’s wisdom.

Through Isidore’s significant educational contributions, the church has instructed both clergy and lay persons. By his holy example, school efforts and the learning process, the church and its member have been deeply enlightened. He became one of the most learned persons of his time in Spain during the seventh century. He was an ardent, educational advocate. Not only did Isidore help educate others but also helped ignorant and misguided people in the faith to become reeducated. That accomplishment is sometimes harder.

To assist people to unlearn facts is a science and an art because ingrained habits are harder to break and erase. A fine example of this is the Arian heresy that had been around for nearly four hundred years during his lifetime. This misleading heresy was the scourge of the church for decades. Isidore converted a leader of this terrible heresy by reeducating him. By this action, Isidore helped Spain become detached from this heinous heresy which had plagued thousands. He pointed out errors then and for us today with fuller and tangible knowledge of God through Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the most authentic reflection of the Father by reason of his very nature both as God and Man. This also allows all human beings to identify, experience, and sense the omniscent One dwelling in our own flesh. God is divinizing us daily, not only in Jesus’ name, but also in the actual person of Jesus and with his Spirit. God shares his incredible intimacy, friendship, pleasure and bliss with us through his church and life. Even, now, in this life on earth, we can sense a foretaste of the life to come. Faith enables us to grasp this mystery or perhaps the mystery touches us with faith. That is why it is vital to know what one believes in order that one does not get misled or confused.

The expression "The mind is a terrible thing to waste" has many lessons. We waste our minds not only by drugs but also by drugging our minds with knowledge that can be dangerous or destructive. There are ideas and concepts that are misleading and lead to evil. Books, magazines, newspapers and various media such as the computer and the ubiquitous Internet can be a blessing or a curse not in themselves but in how that knowledge and usage impacts us. One would be shocked to know the numbers of adult websites that are created daily and leads to serious pornographic addictons in thousands.

Education, knowledge and learning in itself are no guarantee for holiness. Isidore shows us even today education can be an instrument to help and share with others.

Mothers, fathers, teachers, professors and tutors-all play a vital part in the education of one’s family, society and everyone that seek knowledge. Isidore gives us a marvelous gift by his example. He treated those less gifted in knowledge and identified with them by showing tremendous dignity and respect. We should recall Jesus’ words that to whom much is given, much shall be required.

During the seventy-six years of Isidore’s life there were many conflicts (as all generations) and growth for the church in Spain. The Arians claimed that Jesus Christ was not God. They were Christians to be sure and Jesus was a very special person but a man could not be God to their logic. Spain was divided by the Roman Catholics and the Arian Goths who had invaded the country a century and a half earlier-before the birth of Isidore. They had set up their own capitol. In fact, Isidore’s father was probably of Roman origin and was connected with the Visigothic kings. During the reign of six kings in Isidore’s time, he and his brothers before him helped convert the Visigoths from Arianism to Catholicism.

Isidore played a major role in the unification of Spain by making it a center of culture and learning. He assisted the other European countries, whose culture had been threatened by barbarian invasion, by teaching, instructing, and guiding. He has been called the Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages because of his immense contribution to educational growth.

Isidore paved the way in education for the church through his holy example. His actions were imitated by many that followed in his footsteps. Some examples are St John Baptist de la Salle, the founder of the Brothers of the Christian School (Christian Brothers). He is named the Patron of Schoolteachers and is often called the Father of Modern Education. John Neuman became the first American bishop to be beatified in the United States and drew into American cities many teaching orders of sisters and the Christian Brothers.

Through the extraordinary efforts, gentleness and painstaking care of Isidore and many other doctors, education and teaching became an art and science. In fact, it became more! St John Chrysostom, Doctor of the Church, wrote: What is nobler than to mold the character of the young? I consider that he who knows how to form the youthful mind is truly greater than all painters, sculptors and all others of that sort.

The church has provided down through the centuries outstanding leaders in the educational field. St Angela Merici has the double distinction of founding the first teaching order of women in the church and what is now called a “secular institute” of religious women. She formed the Company of St. Ursula and is the Patroness of Medieval Universities and venerated as a leader of women for the purpose of re-Christianizing family life through solid Christian education of future wives and mothers. Most of us can identify with a mother, widow, educator, founder, saint and pioneer of the first American parish school and first American orphanage. Elizabeth Ann Seton did all this while raising her five children. She founded the first native American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity. Elizabeth was the first American-born citizen to be canonized. Frances Xavier Cabrini, another great missionary and educator, was the first US citizen to be canonized. Many scientists can identify with the great scientific knowledge that St Albert the Great shared with us during his life. Who can forget the Patron of Catholic Schools, St Thomas Aquinas, and his enormous contributions in the area of philosophy and theology?

Many are indebted to the illustrious Sisters of Notre Dame for their education. St Julia Billiart is the original foundress of that Order which has different divisions. She was an invalid of twenty-two years before becoming cured through her faith, her good sister’s faith, and Julia’s devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The best teachers as Isidore, John Bosco, and many other religious and secular educators that have taught civilization, have instructed the whole person-body, mind, heart and soul.

The Salesians are found nearly everywhere. They are a modern religious society of priests and brothers founded in 1859 by St John Bosco to reach out to the poor and needy youth. They are the third largest religious order in the world-some 17,000 strong working in 100 countries all over world. And then there are the sisters-another 17,000! And then there are cooperators-several thousand again.

Another site for St John Bosco is

http://www.salesians.org/salesian.htm

The famous, Jesuit saint, Peter Claver, who taught and ministered to the slave trade in the sixteenth century, understood that distribution of medicine, food and brandy to his Black brothers and sisters would educate and instruct them far more effectively than pious statements or educational methods. Technique, knowledge, articulation are secondary to an education in authentic love. St Claver would tell all educators and us today that we must show good example with our hearts, hands and minds by sharing and giving before we try to educate others with our lips.

This is what Jesus, Isidore and Peter Claver did and all those involved in service and education of others. By failing to model for others, show good example, act patiently, especially with the less fortunate, we will never be able to teach or educate others anything that will be lasting or enduring.

We mustn't think that it was only the sixteenth century during the slave trade that the lack of education existed. The world today in many foreign countries deny young people the privilege and opportunity of education due to the need to work for survival.

Many hundreds of million children in India do not attend school because they must work to help support their families. Girls are affected the most by this problem, and a lack of education puts them at a great disadvantage for rising out of poverty. The following is taken from the below website that quote the Catholic Relief:

http://www.catholicrelief.org/where_we_work/asia/india/index.cfm

Education starts at a very young age. Normally, mothers begin this process with ‘drawing out’ from their infant the best as they share their love. As the child matures, nothing gets knowledge across more effectively than sincere love, communication, demonstration and enthusiasm. This encourages using one’s mind, heart, soul, spirit, and strength toward gaining knowledge, sharing, communicating, and imitating all the good that one possesses.

There is a plaque that many parents have in their children’s room. It contains a story and an invaluable lesson that St Isidore put into practice for many years as he ministered and taught others in his own home from sunrise to sunset. This plaque contains a profound truth and beautiful message. It reads:

Children Live What They Learn

When children live with criticism
They learn to condemn.
When children live with hostility,
They learn to fight.
When children live with ridicule,
They learn to be shy.
When children live with shame,
They learn to feel guilty.
When children live with tolerance,
They learn to be patient.
When children live with encouragement,
They learn to have faith.
When children live with fairness,
They learn confidence.
When children live with security,
They learn justice.
When children live with praise,
They learn to appreciate.
When children live with approval,
They learn to like themselves.
When children live with acceptance and friendship,
They learn to find love in the world.

If there is but one phrase that the Church and especially St Isidore, The Educational Doctor, would have us cherish and remember it would be that all might yearn to learn. It will make us holy and wise.

Isidore, according to Father Gambero’s book listed in the Sources, gives a considerable amount of space to Marian devotion in his writings. He confirms Mary to be the Virgin Mother. Among other things, he justifies the use of various Marian titles. In one of his many books and perhaps the most famous, entitled: Etymologies , Isidore attributes three meanings to the name of Mary: “Mary signifies Light-giver or Star of the Sea; for she gave birth to the Light of the world. In the Syriac tongue, however, Mary means “Lady”, and beautifully so, since she gave birth to the Lord. Fr. Rengers, in his book listed in the sources on the doctors, informs us that a scholar from the University of Chicago found at least 950 manuscripts of the Etymologies still extant. In medieval Europe, every library of Western Europe had this work as an indispensable source of information.

Isidore defines Mary as the new earth, upon which the torrent of the Spirit poured down: Mary, the Virgin Mother of the Lord, is quite properly called “earth”… This earth was watered by the Holy Spirit. No creature learned more about the love of God and neighbor than Mary. No creature practiced that knowledge more than Mary did. God permitted the demise of His Mother, Mary to remain a mystery. The conjecture of the doctors is that inasmuch as Mary and Jesus were so totally united, she actually wanted to die at the appointed time in imitation of her Son. Her death is referred to her dormition.

She was not a martyr by physical blood buy by spiritual desire. Her witness to the crucifixion and sufferings leading up to that nightmare is partly listed in scripture. Other doctors and saints have written about her pain, suffering and spiritual death. Her witnessing of the shedding of his precious blood and his treatment carrying the cross and the whole scene on Calvary is enough to make us trembling and shudder beyond comprehension. It was only by a miracle that Mary did not died with her Son on Calvary.

We positively know that she “walked with him each step that day, each breath and pain and toil displayed”. One author affirmed that it was extraordinarily difficult for Mary to leave her Son’s body in the tomb. She was with him in life. She wanted to be with him in death. However, she obeyed St John to come out of the tomb. She remembered that her Son had entrusted her to him and she to him.

How many years did she live under John’s care? We do not know. She was probably in her forties when Jesus died. We are free to believe as we want.

The dogma of the Assumption states that she was taken up into heaven body and soul. The church has left it up to the individual how she died and her age. We are free to believe or not believe that she actually died on earth physically. Isidore believed that Mary actually died a physical death because her Son died and she wanted to imitate him.

Perhaps no other doctors set in place and in motion the means of education and the practice of helping others in the art of learning and loving than Isidore, the educational doctor. He showed by continual example that tender concern to help others learn through the generous sharing of his home and heart from sunrise to sunset. He gave to those, who sincerely wanted to learn, all of his love and means to help them. Some have honored him for his love for learning and education by endorsing and using him as a patron for the Internet. That is definitely not a bad choice.

The following is a prayer that I found on the Internet regarding Isidore and those who are advocating him as the Patron of the Internet:

Proposed Patron Saint of Internet Users

A Prayer before Logging onto the Internet and the Catholic Online Forum.

Almighty and eternal God, who created us in Thy image and bade us to seek after all that is good, true and beautiful, especially in the divine person of Thy only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee that, through the intercession of Saint Isidore, bishop and doctor, during our journeys through the Internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Internet is a sleeping giant that is having explosive growth. There is a great disparity and access in the use of the Internet. Many are educating others regarding the potential, benefit and power of the Internet. Isidore would share it most generously.

The dictionary, encyclopedia and other educational tools that he set up opened "new doors". Sharing knowledge generously is the key for human development. Isidore excelled in that area.

The Internet is, as it were, a "new door". Naming St Isidore, or anyone, the patron of the Internet should be based upon their achievements in education toward the poor, the uneducated, the drop-out and those seeking knowledge. Inasmuch as Isidore was a scholar and a very educated person whose example and efforts opened up many doors to all classes of people who were in most need of education, reading and learning, we can say that Isidore truly "IS A DOOR" and the phrase rimes with his name.

His wise comments regarding education, learning and reading are:

Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us. Both are good when both are possible. Otherwise, prayer is better than reading.

If a man wants to be always in God's company, he must pray regularly and read regularly. When we pray, we talk to God; when we read, God talks to us.

All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection. By reading we learn what we did not know; by reflection we retain what we have learned.

Reading the holy Scriptures confers two benefits. It trains the mind to understand them; it turns man's attention from the follies of the world and leads him to the love of God.

The conscientious reader will be more concerned to carry out what he has read than merely to acquire knowledge of it. In reading we aim at knowing, but we must put into practice what we have learned in our course of study.

The more you devote yourself to study of the sacred utterances, the richer will be your understanding of them, just as the more the soil is tilled, the richer the harvest.

The man who is slow to grasp things but who really tries hard is rewarded, equally he who does not cultivate his God-given intellectual ability is condemned for despising his gifts and sinning by sloth.

Learning unsupported by grace may get into our ears; it never reaches the heart. But when God's grace touches our innermost minds to bring understanding, his word which has been received by the ear sinks deep into the heart.

Our saint was a lover of learning and holiness and "the last of the ancient Christian Philosophers as he was the last of the great Latin Fathers."

There are many links below associated with Isidore. The first association is the very first Roman Catholic Seminary and University in the United States. It is quite fitting that he who started the concept of seminaries in dioceses should receive some recognition.

http://www.stmarys.edu/