San Isidoro de Sevilla (560-635)

Teólogo español, santo, fue obispo de Sevilla. Nació entre los años 560 y 570. San Isidoro es una figura importante en la historia medieval, pues su vida se desarrolla en el momento crítico en que se desintegra el mundo romano y de sus ruinas surgen nuevas nacionalidades. Combatió eficazmente el arrianismo, y presidió los concilios de Sevilla (619) y de Toledo (636, al que asistieron todos los obispos de España). Pero su mayor mérito radica en sus escritos, numerosos y de temas muy variados. Entre ellos destacan los referentes a la teología, a la filosofía, a la historia y otros de carácter enciclopédico. Su gran obra pertenece a este último género. Originum sive etymologiarum libri XX consta de 20 libros que abarcan la totalidad del saber: artes liberales y teología, ciencias naturales y derecho romano. En ella se encuentra todo: desde gramática, hasta alimentación o instrumentos domésticos y rústicos. Este saber se presenta bajo la forma de definiciones y se apoya en una concepción del lenguaje que supone una relación bastante inmediata entre las palabras y las cosas. La influencia de San Isidoro en la cultura occidental ha sido extraordinaria, por la gran cantidad de conocimientos que transmitió a la posteridad.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 10 2001
Vatican to give Internet its patron saint

FROM RICHARD OWEN IN ROME

THOSE tempted to curse when their computer screen freezes or
flashes up irritating messages about performing illegal operations
will soon have someone to pray to instead. Reports this week said
the Pope is about to name St Isidore of Seville as the patron saint
of computer users and the Internet.

The proposal surfaced 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. Born in 560, he became Bishop of Seville — as had
his father before him — and embarked on an educational mission,
obliging all churches in his diocese to open schools and seminaries
teaching Hebrew and Greek. The most learned man of his day,
Isidore (not to be confused with Isidore the Farmer, the
11th-century patron saint of Madrid) is credited with introducing
the works of Aristotle to Spain, and was declared a Doctor of the
Church by Pope Benedict XIV in the 18th century.

A Vatican spokesman said the Holy See was receiving a growing
number of requests to name St Isidore, and the matter was “under
active consideration”. The Web is known to be high on the list of
the Pope’s concerns, and the Vatican has had its own website
since 1996, powered by three computers dubbed Raphael,
Michael and Gabriel.

Last week the Pope said the world’s media, like the Vatican
website, should promote positive and uplifting values rather than
promoting the trivial or corrupt. In a sharply worded attack on the
phenomenon of “spin-doctoring”, the Pontiff said the media
wrongly promoted the idea that “the only absolute truth is that
there are no absolute truths, or that if there are, they are
inaccessible to human reason ... what matters is not the truth but
the story”.

Vatican watchers said this echoed St Isidore’s own remark that
“in reading we aim at knowing, but we must put into practice what
we have learnt rather than just acquiring knowledge”. In a passage
which will strike a chord with Internet users the saint added that
“the man who is slow to grasp things but persists and really tries
hard is eventually rewarded”.

Help from above

Patron saints have to be proclaimed by the Pope, who last year
named St Thomas More the patron saint of politicians and
statesmen. Those who have patron saints include accountants (St
Matthew), actors (St Genesius), chemists (St Nicholas),
broadcasters (St Gabriel), cooks (St Lawrence who was burned
on a grill), doctors (St Luke), firemen (St Agatha), journalists (St
Francis of Sales), lawyers (St Hilary), and taxi drivers (St Fiacre).
The patron saint of television is St Clare, the companion of St
Francis of Assisi, who was said to have the ability to transmit
images of herself to him while she lay ill.