St. Isidore of Seville

Bishop of Seville

The primary patron of St. Isidore’s College is St. Isidore of Seville, a Father of the Church and the author of one of the most influential books in the Middle Ages: the Etymologies, which begins with an overview of the traditional seven liberal arts and then proceeds to present in an encyclopedic way everything from angels to rocks. St. Isidore wrote this book when he was the Bishop of Seville because he believed that his priests needed to know as much as they could about everything. His interest in all subjects and his grounding in the traditional liberal arts make him the ideal patron saint for a Catholic college with a curriculum and way of life built upon the liberal arts and the manual arts.