# Matins Nocturn 2-3 readings for St. Isidore of Seville, Bishop,
# Confessor, Doctor of the Church (Apr 4). Sourced directly from
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/04-04.txt, English/Sancti/04-04.txt.
#
# Nocturn 2: Lectio4-6 combined into one reading, one continuous vita.
# Nocturn 3: Lectio7's Gospel citation (Matt 5:13-19) is a bare incipit
# ("Et réliqua"), so only the homily is authored (not marked isGospel),
# St. Isidore's own homily (Lectio7's homily + Lectio8-9 combined).
id: st-isidore-of-seville
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Isidorus, natione Hispanus, Doctor egregius, ex nova Carthagine Severiano patre
        provinciæ duce natus, a sanctis episcopis Leandro Hispalensi, et Fulgentio
        Carthaginiensi fratribus suis pie et liberaliter educatus, Latinis, Græcis, et
        Hebraicis litteris, divinisque et humanis legibus instructus, omni scientiarum,
        atque christianarum virtutum genere præstantissimus evasit. Adhuc adolescens
        hæresim Arianam, quæ gentem Gotharum Hispaniæ latissime dominantem jampridem
        invaserat, tanta constantia palam oppugnavit, ut parum abfuerit, quin ab hæreticis
        necaretur. Leandro vita functo ad Hispalensem cathedram invitus quidem, sed
        urgente in primis Reccaredo rege, magnoque étiam cleri populique consensu
        assumitur, ejtisque electionem sanctus Gregorius Magnus, nedum auctoritate
        apostolica confirmasse, sed et electum transmisso de more pallio decorasse, quin
        étiam suum et apostolicæ Sedis in universa Hispania Vicarium constituisse
        perhibetur.


        In episcopatu quantum fuerit constans, humilis, patiens, misericors, in christiana
        et ecclesiastica disciplina instauranda sollicitus, edque verbo et scriptis
        stabilienda indefessus, atque omni demum virtutum ornamento insignitus, nullius
        lingua enarrare sufficeret. Monastici quoque instituti per Hispaniam promotor et
        amplificator eximius plura construxit monasteria, collegia itidem ædificavit, ubi
        studiis sacris et lectionibus vacans, plurimos discipulos, qui ad eum
        confluebant, erudivit, quos inter sancti Ildefonsus Toletanus, et Brauho
        Cæsaraugustanus episcopi emicuerunt. Coacto Hispali concilio, Acephalorum hæresim
        Hispaniæ jam minitantem, acri et eloquenti disputatidne fregit atque contrivit.
        Tantam apud omnes sanctitatis et doctrinæ famam adeptus est, ut elapso vix ab ejus
        obitu sextodecimo anno, universa Toletana synodo duorum supra quinquaginta
        episcoporum plaudente, ipsoque étiam sancto Ildefonso suffragante, Doctor
        egregius, catholicæ Ecclesiæ novissimum decus, in sæculorum fine doctissimus, et
        cum reverentia nominandus appellari meruerit; eumque sanctus Braulio non modo
        Gregorio Magno comparaverit, sed et erudiendæ Hispaniæ loco Jacobi Apostoli
        cælitus datum esse censuerit.


        Scripsit Isidorus libros etymologiarum, et de ecclesiasticis officiis, aliosque
        quam plurimos christianæ, et ecclesiasticæ disciplinæ adeo utiles, ut sanctus Leo
        Papa quartus ad episcopos Britanniæ scribere non dubitaverit, sicut Hierónymi et
        Augustíni, ita Isidori dicta retinenda esse, ubi contigerit inusitatum negotium,
        quod per Canones minime definiri possit. Plures étiam ex ejusdem scriptis
        sententiæ inter canonicas Ecclesiæ leges relatæ conspiciuntur. Præfuit concilio
        Toletano quarto, omnium Hispaniæ celeberrimo. Denique cum ab Hispania Arianam
        hæresim eliminasset, morte sua, et regni vastatione a Saracenorum armis publice
        prænuntiata, postquam quadraginta circiter annos suam rexisset ecclesiam, Hispali
        migravit in cælum anno sexcentesimo trigesimo sexto. Ejus corpus inter Leandrum
        fratrem, et Florentinam sororem, ut ipse mandaverat, primo conditum, Ferdinandus
        primus Castellæ et Legionis rex, ab Eneto Saraceno Hispali dominante, magno
        pretio redemptum Legionem transtulit, et in ejus honorem templum ædificatum est,
        ubi miraculis clarus magna populi devotione colitur.
      en: >-
        Isidore, the admirable teacher, was a Spaniard by birth, being the son of
        Severian, governor of the Province of Carthagena. He was trained up in all
        godliness and learning by his holy brethren Leander, Archbishop of Seville, and
        Fulgentius, Bishop of Carthagena. He was well instructed in the Latin, Greek, and
        Hebrew letters, and he came from his masters a most eminent scholar in all human
        knowledge, and a pattern of all Christian graces. While yet he was very young, he
        attacked with such firmness the Arian heresy, which had of former times polluted
        the Gothic nation, who then were the chief rulers of Spain, that he was near being
        murdered by the heretics. After that Leander was departed this life, Isidore was
        chosen to the See of Seville, against his own will, but at the vehement instance
        of King Reccared, and with the strong assent of the clergy and people. Holy
        Gregory the Great not only confirmed his election by his own Apostolic authority,
        and caused him to be adorned, as is the custom, with a Pallium sent from the body
        of Blessed Peter, but is also stated to have appointed him Vicar of the Apostolic
        See for all Spain.


        When he was Archbishop no tongue can tell how leal he was, how lowly, and meek,
        and merciful, how careful to restore the laws of Christianity and the Church, and
        how unwearied in establishing the same by his word and writings, yea, how
        brightly he shone in all graces. He was a leading promoter and spreader of
        monastic institutions throughout Spain. He built many monasteries. He founded
        colleges in which, when his duty allowed him spare time for sacred study and
        reading, he taught the many disciples who betook themselves to him from all
        quarters. Among these, two of the most distinguished were the holy Bishops
        Ildephonsus of Toledo, and Braulio of Saragossa. He called the Council of
        Seville, wherein, in a most incisive and eloquent discourse, he shattered and
        crushed the heresy of the Acephali, by which Spain was then threatened. So great
        was his fame among all men for the holiness of his life and doctrine, that
        scarcely sixteen years after his death the whole Council of Toledo, by the
        acclamation of more than fifty Bishops, among whom was the holy Ildephonsus
        himself, declared him to be worthy to be called the excellent Teacher, the newest
        ornament of the Catholic Church, one whose learning would endure to the end of
        the world, and of worshipful memory. It was the opinion of the holy Braulio that
        he was not only fit to be compared to Gregory the Great, but also that he was a
        gift from God to Spain instead of the Apostle James.


        Isidore wrote Books of Etymologies and on Church Offices, and likewise many
        others, so useful in the administration of Christian and Church Law, that the
        holy Pope Leo IV felt no scruple in writing to the Bishops of Britain, that the
        sayings of Isidore were worthy to be kept like those of Jerome and Augustine,
        whenever there is to be done some strange work, wherein the rules of the Canon
        Law are not enough defined. Many sentences from his writings may also be
        discovered embedded in the Canon Law of the Church itself. He presided over the
        Fourth Council of Toledo, the most celebrated that ever met in Spain. Before his
        death he had purged Spain of the Arian heresy, and publicly foretold his own
        dissolution and the wasting of the kingdom by the Saracens which was to come. He
        passed away to heaven, at Seville, where he had ruled his Church for forty years,
        in the year of our Lord 636. In accordance with his own commands, his body was
        first buried between his brother Leander and his sister Florentina, but
        Ferdinand I, King of Castille and Leon, bought it for a great price from Enet,
        the Saracen, who then ruled at Seville, carried it to Leon, and there built a
        Church in honour of him, wherein his said body lieth, illustrious through
        miracles, and reverenced with great worship by the people.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }

  - nocturn: 3
    isGospel: false
    source: "St. Isidore of Seville, De Officiis Ecclesiasticis, Book II, ch. 5 (on Matt 5:13-19)"
    text:
      la: >-
        Qui in erudiendis, atque instituendis ad virtutem populis præerit, necesse est,
        ut in omnibus sanctus sit, et in nullo reprehensibihs habeatur. Qui enim alium de
        peccatis arguit, ipse a peccato debet esse alienus. Nam qua fronte subjectos
        arguere poterit, cum illi statim possit correctus ingerere: Ante doce te quæ
        recta sunt? Primitus quippe semetipsum corrigere debet, qui alios ad bene vivendum
        admonere studet; ita ut in omnibus semetipsum formam vivendi præbeat, cunctosque
        ad bonum opus, et doctrina et opere provocet. Cui étiam scientia Scripturarum
        necessaria est: quia si episcopi tantum sancta sit vita, sibi soli prodest, sic
        vivens. Porro si et doctrina et sermone fuerit eruditus, potest ceteros quoque
        instruiere, et docere suos, et adversarios repercutere, qui nisi refutati fuerint
        atque convicti, facile possunt simplicium corda pervertere.


        Hujus sermo debet esse purus, simplex, apertus, plenus gravitatis et honestatis,
        plenus suavitatis et gratiæ, tractans de mysterio legis, de doctrina fidei, de
        virtute continentiæ, de disciplina justitiæ: unumquemque admonens diversa
        exhortatione, juxta professionem, morumque qualitatem: scilicet ut prænoscat
        quid, cui, quando, vel quomodo proferat. Cujus præ ceteris speciale officium est,
        Scripturas legere, percurrere Canones, exempla sanctorum imitari, vigiliis,
        jejuniis, orationibus incumbere, cum fratribus pacem habere, nec quemquam de
        membris suis discerpere; nullum damnare, nisi comprobatum, nullum excommunicare
        nisi discussum. Quique ita humilitate pariter, et auctoritate præesse debet, ut
        neque per nimiam humilitatem suam subditorum vitia convalescere faciat, neque
        per immoderantiam severitatis potestatem exerceat, sed tanto cautius erga
        commissos sibi, quanto durius a Christo indagari formidat.


        Tenebit quoque illam supereminentem donis omnibus caritatem, sine qua omnis
        virtus nihil est. Custos enim castitatis, caritas; locus autem hujus custodis
        humilitas. Habebit étiam inter hæc omnia castitatis eminentiam: ita ut mens
        Christo dedita, ab omni inquinamento carnis sit munda et libera. Inter hæc
        oportebit cum sollicita dispensatione curam pauperum gerere, esurientes pascere,
        vestire nudos, suscipere peregrinos, captivos redimere, viduas ac pupillos
        tueri, pervigilem in cunctis exhibere curam, providentiam habere distributione
        discreta. In quo étiam hospitalitas ita erit præcipua, ut omnes cum benignitate
        et caritate suscipiat. Si enim omnes fideles illud Evangelium audire desiderant:
        Hospes fui, et suscepistis me; quanto magis episcopus, cujus diversorium
        cunctorum debet esse receptaculum?
      en: >-
        Whosoever is set over the people to teach them and to catechize them in good
        works, him it behooveth in all things to be holy, and in nothing to be held
        blameworthy. For he which rebuketh another for sin, should have no dealings with
        sin himself. Since with what face can he rebuke them which are under him, if he
        which is rebuked of him be able to answer him straightway, saying Begin by
        teaching thyself to do well? Verily, whosoever setteth himself to teach others to
        live well, him it behooveth first of all to correct his own life, so that in all
        things he may be able to give the same his own life for an example, and may
        provoke all to good living by his works as well as by his words. Likewise also he
        must needs be learned in the Scriptures, since if the life of a Bishop be holy
        only, then is he profitable to himself only. But if he be learned also in his
        teaching and discourse, he is able to edify his neighbors, both teaching such as
        are his own, and confounding the gainsayers, who, unless they be confounded and
        unmasked, are easily able to lead astray the hearts of the simple.


        Such an one it behooveth, that his discourse should be pure, plain, open, very
        weighty, and seemly, full of sweetness and comeliness, touching often the
        mystery of Law, the teaching of faith, the manliness of self-control, and the
        training of righteousness. Such an one it behooveth to exhort all men with
        varying exhortation, according to the profession and way of life of each, that
        is to say, such an one must know what, to whom, when, and how to speak. His duty
        is, before all others, to read the Scriptures, to know the Canons, to copy the
        examples of the Saints, to be instant in watching, fasting, and prayer, to keep
        peace with his brethren, to separate himself from none of the members of Christ,
        to condemn no man untried, and to excommunicate no man unheard. Such an one it
        behoveth, as he is the first in authority, so also to be the first in lowliness,
        yet ever so, that, by misplaced lowliness, he suffer not nor encourage the sins
        of those that are under him, nor use his authority hardly and with violence, but
        as one that is the more careful of the flock committed unto him, as being mindful
        of that stricter account which he will have to give at the fearful judgment seat
        of Christ.


        Such an one must have firm hold on charity, that gift which surpassed all
        others, and without which all others are nothing worth. Charity is the keeper of
        chastity, and that keeper's home is lowly-mindedness. With all other gifts he
        must needs be eminent for purity, yea, his must be a mind belonging utterly to
        Christ, and clean and free from any fleshly defilement. But these are not all
        his needful gifts. Besides these, it behoveth him to undertake the care of the
        poor, and to do the same with zeal and likewise with prudence, to feed the
        hungry, to clothe the naked, to entertain strangers, to ransom prisoners, to be
        the guardian of the widow and the orphan, to watch over all without ceasing, and
        to be heedful that his alms be neither foolish nor wasteful. In him hospitality
        must shine, entertaining all men with courtesy and brotherly love; for if it be
        the duty of all the faithful to listen to that Gospel which saith: I was a
        stranger, and ye took Me in, how much more is it the duty of Bishops, whose
        house it behooveth to be an home for all men?
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
