Today the Church remembers St. Leander of Seville, Bishop.
Ora pro nobis.
The next time you recite the Nicene Creed at Mass, think of today’s saint. For it was Leander of Seville who, as bishop, introduced the practice in the sixth century AD. He saw it as a way to help reinforce the faith of his people and as an antidote against the heresy of Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ.
St. Leander was born at Cartagena, Spain, in 534 AD, to Severianus and Theodora. St. Isidore and Fulgentius, both bishops, were his brothers, and his sister, Florentina, also numbered among the saints, was an abbess who directed forty convents and one thousand nuns.
Leander moved to Seville as a young man and became a monk. He spent three years in prayer and study. At the end of that tranquil period he was ordained and consecrated the bishop of the diocese of Seville. For the rest of his life he worked strenuously to fight against heresy. He was instrumental in converting the two sons, Hermenegild and Reccared, of the Arian Visigothic King Leovigild. This action earned him the kings's wrath and exile to Constantinople, where he met and became close friends of the Papal Legate, the future Pope Gregory the Great. It was Leander who suggested that Gregory write the famous commentary on the Book of Job called the Moralia.
The death of the anti-Christian king in 586 AD helped Leander’s cause, and he returned to Seville. Once back home, he and the new king Reccared worked hand in hand to establish orthodoxy against the Arians of Spain. Leander succeeded in persuading many Arian bishops to change their loyalties. The third local Council of Toledo (over which he presided in 589 AD) affirmed the consubstantiality of the three Persons of the Trinity. Leander's unerring wisdom and unflagging dedication to Christian orthodoxy led the Visigoths and the Suevi back to the true Faith and obtained the gratitude of Gregory the Great. The saintly bishop also composed an influential Rule for nuns and was the first to introduce the Nicene Creed at Mass.
By the end of his life, Leander had helped Christianity flourish in Spain at a time of political and religious upheaval. Worn out by his tireless work in the cause of the orthodox Faith, Leander died around 600 AD and was succeeded in the See of Seville by his brother Isidore. The Spanish Church honors Leander as the Doctor of the Faith.
O God, who by thy Holy Spirit dost give to some the word of wisdom, to others the word of knowledge, and to others the word of faith: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Leander, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of such gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the same Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
