Feast day: March 13
St. Leander of Seville
Archbishop of Seville and elder brother of St. Isidore, he won the Visigothic kings of Spain from Arianism to the Catholic faith and reformed the Spanish liturgy.
Leander was born about 534 into a remarkable Hispano-Roman family of Cartagena that gave the Church four saints — himself; his brothers Isidore, who would succeed him, and Fulgentius; and his sister Florentina. He became a monk and then, around 579, archbishop of Seville.
His life's great work was the conversion of the Visigothic rulers of Spain from Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ, to Catholic orthodoxy. He won over Hermenegild, the king's eldest son — a stand that cost Leander exile to Constantinople and Hermenegild his life — and there formed a lasting friendship with the future Pope Gregory the Great.
Returning to Spain, Leander at last saw his hopes fulfilled when King Reccared embraced the Catholic faith and brought the Visigothic nation with him. At the Third Council of Toledo in 589, which sealed the religious unity of Spain, Leander presided and preached the triumphant closing sermon.
He also reorganized the Spanish liturgy, wrote a rule for nuns, and is credited with introducing the singing of the Nicene Creed at Mass in the West. He died about 600, having laid the foundations of the golden age of the Spanish Church that his brother Isidore would crown.
He converted a royal dynasty and a whole kingdom from Arian heresy — and trained his little brother Isidore, who would surpass him in fame.
Image: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: newadvent.org/cathen/09102a.htm
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