Happy Izzy Day !

In addition to being Palm Sunday & the start of Holy Week for many faith traditions, today (April 4) is the feast day for St. Isidore of Seville (Proposed Patron of the Internet (a brief explanation of the almost wacky way this has come about is below).

Isidore was born in 560 AD to a noble family in Cartgena, Spain. He was educated mainly by his older brother, Leander, a monk. Succeeding his brother, Isidore served for 36 years as archbishop of Seville, and was known for his emphasis on education. In 633, three years before his death, he presided over the Fourth National Council of Toledo, which enacted a decree commanding all bishops in Spain to establish seminaries in their Cathedral Cities, along the lines of the school already existing at Seville.

So, how did a 7th century Spanish archbishop and educator become the patron saint for the Internet?

The Vatican’s Observation Service for Internet, which drew its mission from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, researched the Internet and related technologies to select a patron saint that best reflects the concerns and ideals of computer designers, programmers and users. The saint chosen by the Observation Service was Saint Isidore.

The proposal for such a move was made in 1999, with Spanish Catholic bishops advocating St. Isidore as the best candidate on the grounds that in the 7th century he produced one of the world's first databases in the form of a twenty-volume encyclopedia called the Etymologies. He was the first Christian writer to essay the task of compiling a summa of universal knowledge. His encyclopedia epitomized all learning, ancient as well as modern, and in it many fragments of classical learning are preserved which otherwise would have been hopelessly lost.

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[Ian]

Feaster Day!