Saint Leander of Seville

Saint Leander was a monk and Bishop of Seville, the elder brother of Saints Isidore, Fulgentius and Florentina. By his teaching and persevering work he brought the Visigoths, who then ruled Spain, to abandon Arianism and embrace the Catholic faith. The Roman Martyrology commemorates him on March 13.

He was born in Cartagena, in southeastern Spain, into an old Roman family; his father’s name was Severianus. The year of his birth is unknown; dates from 534 to 545 are given. Around the middle of the sixth century the family moved to Seville. Leander was the eldest of the children, and after his father’s death he watched over the upbringing of his younger brother Isidore. Benedict XVI recalled that Isidore owed him much: Leander was an exacting, studious and austere man.

Leander became a monk and, about 578, Bishop of Seville. The kingdom was then ruled by Leovigild, who like most Visigoths professed Arianism, a teaching that denied the equality of the Son of God with the Father. Under the influence of Leander’s instruction the king’s son Hermenegild embraced the Catholic faith. His revolt against his father ended in defeat, and he himself was put to death in 585; the Church venerates him as a martyr.

In those troubled years Leander stayed in Constantinople. There he met the future Pope Gregory the Great, then the envoy of the Apostolic See at the imperial court, and formed a lasting friendship with him. Gregory later recalled that Leander had been brought to the imperial capital by an embassy concerning the faith of the Visigoths; other accounts speak of exile, and the dates of his stay are not certain. It was also at Leander’s urging that Gregory undertook his exposition of the Book of Job, known as the Moralia, and he dedicated the work to him.

After Leovigild’s death in 586 the throne passed to his younger son Reccared, who himself embraced the Catholic faith. In 589 the Third Council of Toledo sealed the passage of the Visigothic kingdom from Arianism to the Catholic faith. Leander was among the chief architects of this event and at the close of the sessions preached a homily on the Church’s joy at the conversion of the Goths. The council also directed that in the churches of Spain the people, after the example of the Eastern Churches, should sing the profession of faith at Mass.

Leander cared for the education of the clergy and for the liturgy. For his sister Florentina, who chose the life of a nun, he wrote an instruction, still extant, on the life of virgins consecrated to God and on contempt for the world; in time it served as a rule for communities of women. Gregory the Great, by then pope, sent him his works and, in 599, the pallium.

He died in Seville about the year 600; the sources give years from 599 to 601, and March 13 is indicated as the day of his death. He was succeeded in the episcopal see by his younger brother, Saint Isidore. The Church has venerated Leander as a saint since ancient times; he lived long before formal canonization processes existed. In Spain his memorial is kept on November 13.