Leander of Seville

From Hispanopedia
"San Leandro" redirects here. For the city of the same name, see San Leandro, California.
Saint Leander of Seville
Saint Leander of Seville. Painting by Murillo in Seville Cathedral
Bornc. 536–540[1]
Cartagena, Spain
DiedMarch 13, 602[2]
Venerated inCatholic Church
Orthodox Church
CanonizedImmemorial cult
Feast
  • March 13 Hispano-Mozarabic Rite, Vetus Ordo in Spain and Novus Ordo[3]
  • February 27 Vetus Ordo and Byzantine[4]
  • November 13 Novus Ordo in Spain[5]

Leander of Seville (Cartagena, c. 536–540[1] – Seville, March 13, 602[2]) was a Catholic ecclesiastic prominent in Hispania[6] at the time of the conversion of the Arian Visigoths to Catholicism. He was Bishop of Seville at the end of the 6th century. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and is considered a Father of the Church.

Biography

Saint Leander of Seville. Sculpture by Lorenzo Mercadante de Bretaña. Portal of the Baptism of Seville Cathedral.

In the work De viris illustribus by Isidore of Seville it is said that Leander "had as his father Severianus, of the Carthaginensis province of Spain". Severianus is a Roman name.[7][8] It is also known that Severianus held a public office in Cartagena.[1]

Leander's younger siblings were: Fulgentius (who was Bishop of Écija), Florentina (who was a nun) and Isidore (who succeeded his brother as Bishop of Seville). Leander wrote a letter to Florentina at the end of the 6th century, known as On the Instruction of Virgins and the Contempt of the World. In it he mentions a maternal figure called Turtur (turtledove), but it is unknown whether this was the name of their mother, whether the name was used as a literary device, or whether he was referring to the Abbess of the convent where Florentina was living.[7]

From the document On the Instruction of Virgins and the Contempt of the World it can also be gathered that the Hispano-Roman and Catholic family had to leave Cartagena because of the arrival of some foreigners, who could have been the Goths or the Byzantines. Some authors think that King Agila I, faced with the arrival in that area of Hispania of the Byzantines, called in by Athanagild in 552, decided to expel the Hispano-Romans from the region so that they would not help the invader.[7] The same document says that the family moved when Florentina was very young.[7]

Isidore must have been born when the family was already in Seville,[7] but later writings have placed his birth in Cartagena, for which reason Leander and his siblings have been regarded as the Four Saints of Cartagena.[9][10]

Leander was aware of the family tragedy in Cartagena. Athanagild handed the city over to the Byzantines in 554. For all these reasons, the historian Ursicino Domínguez del Val dates Leander's birth to between 536 and 540.[11]

His parents died prematurely and Leander had to take charge of his siblings. Later, he became a monk.[11]

His elevation to the episcopate can be dated to around 577–578.[11]

Between 409 and 418 some 200,000 Visigoths and Suebi had entered Hispania. At that time there were some 8 million Catholic Hispano-Romans in the Iberian Peninsula.[12]

The Visigoth Leovigild was the brother of King Liuva I. In the second year of his reign, in 568–569, Liuva I gave his brother Leovigild the greater part of the territory to govern. In 572 Liuva died and Leovigild remained as sole King of the Visigoths.[12]

The Visigoths were Arians, but Leovigild's first wife was a Catholic woman. With her he had Hermenegild and Reccared.[12]

In 579 Leovigild gave his son Hermenegild part of the Province of Baetica, where Seville was located, so that he could reign in that territory.[13]

Gregory of Tours says that Hermenegild converted to Catholicism through the influence of his wife, Ingund. However, Gregory the Great attributes this conversion to Leander.[14]

In 579 Hermenegild declared himself a Catholic. This conversion was considered very serious at the Visigothic court of Toledo. That same year, Hermenegild rebelled against his Arian father. This rebellion had a strong religious component, as shown by the testimonies of Gregory the Great and Gregory of Tours and by the coins minted in that period.[15]

John of Biclaro, for his part, says that Hermenegild's rebellion was due to the faction of Goiswintha, Leovigild's wife, although it is not known whether he means that Goiswintha plotted against him, forcing him to defend himself, or whether John of Biclaro is confusing her with Ingund.[16]

For John of Biclaro and Isidore of Seville the rebellion was illegal and unjust, whereas Gregory the Great legitimizes the rebellion and considers Hermenegild a martyr.[17]

John of Biclaro relates that Leovigild reacted by convening a synod of Arian bishops in Toledo in 580. This synod ruled that Catholics who wished to become Arians would not need to be baptized again; it would be sufficient to undergo an ablution with the laying on of hands, to take communion on the basis of Arian beliefs, and to adopt the non-Trinitarian formula "glory to the Father, through the Son in the Holy Spirit".[18]

Because of this a libel against Leovigild was circulated. This libel would be recalled by canon 16 of the Third Council of Toledo of 589 to describe Leovigild as detestable.[18]

To attract Catholic bishops and influential persons to Arianism, colloquies on doctrine were organized. One of them took place in the Basilica of Saint Eulalia in Mérida between the Catholic Bishop Masona and the Arian Bishop Sunna.[19][20]

Owing to the failure of these measures, Leovigild began a persecution against the Catholics. Isidore of Seville recounts it as follows:[21]

Filled with fury by the Arian perfidy, he began a persecution against the Catholics, sent a great many bishops into exile, abolished the revenues and privileges of the churches, and also dared, among other contagions of his heresy, to rebaptize Catholics, not only from among the simple people but also from the dignity of the priestly order, such as Bishop Vincent of Zaragoza, whom he turned from a bishop into an apostate.[21]

Gregory of Tours, for his part, narrates the persecution in the following words:[22]

That year [580] there was a great persecution in Spain against the Christians, so that many were exiled, despoiled of their goods, starved to death, imprisoned, flogged and killed by various tortures. The head of this crime was Goiswintha.[22]

According to Isidore, Leander was exiled, but neither the place nor the period is known.[23] He may have been exiled in 580–581, after refusing to accept the Arian synod of Toledo, or in 585, after Leovigild occupied Seville.[24] It is possible that this exile was in Constantinople.[24] According to the 13th-century chronicler Rodrigo of Cerrato, Leander was exiled from Hispalis to Cartagena.[23]

Coat of arms of the City of Seville, with the King Saint Ferdinand in the center flanked by the bishops Saint Isidore and Saint Leander.

Gregory the Great says that, when he was envoy of the Holy See in Constantinople, he met Leander, who was in the city for reasons concerning the faith of the Visigoths.[25] The fact that his stay in Constantinople was "for reasons of faith" may mean that he was there to ask Tiberius II or Maurice to help Hermenegild.[26]

Gregory the Great went so far as to state that Leander was "the one he loved most". The two figures maintained a correspondence, although according to Gregory the Great his obligations in the Catholic Church prevented him from writing to Leander at greater length.[27]

Gregory the Great sent Leander a cope to wear at Mass, with the message:[28]

I ought to advise you how you should live, but it is not necessary, because in you conduct goes before words.[28]

Leander encouraged Gregory the Great to write his work Moralia, sive Expositio in Job, completed in 595.[29] There is a letter from Licinianus of Cartagena to Gregory the Great saying that Leander returned from Constantinople by way of Cartagena, bringing with him Gregory the Great's work Moralia, sive Expositio in Job.[30] For this reason, the historians Justo Pérez de Urbel and Ángel Custodio Vega have considered that Leander made a journey to Constantinople around 595.[30]

Leovigild died in 586,[31] and was succeeded by Reccared. Isidore of Seville, in his work De viris illustribus, says that the acceptance of the Catholic creed by the Goths was due to the faith and skill of Leander.[32] Reccared converted to Catholicism in 587. John of Biclaro says that the Third Council of Toledo of 589, which took place in the presence of the King, was made possible by Bishop Leander and the then abbot Eutropius.[33]

Isidore of Seville and John of Biclaro agree in pointing out the great prestige that Leander enjoyed throughout Hispania.[6]

At the Third Council of Toledo the problem of whether to "rebaptize" the Arians had to be addressed. To resolve this, Leander relied on what had already been written by Augustine of Hippo, according to whom the sacrament of baptism could not be repeated. It was decided that it was enough to abjure one's errors, an anointing with chrism and the laying on of hands.[34]

Another problem at the Third Council of Toledo was whether to baptize with one or three immersions in water. To resolve the question, Leander wrote to Gregory the Great. Leander's letter has not survived, but Gregory the Great's has, written in 591, when he was already Pope of the Catholic Church. In his missive, he endorses Leander's arguments. On the triple immersion, he says that it serves to honor the resurrection of Jesus on the third day and that it is in accordance with the doctrine of the Trinity, but he suggests a single one so that people would not divide the Trinity and in order to set themselves apart from heretics who practiced triple immersion.[35] For this reason, single immersion was decided upon.[36]

At the Third Council of Toledo it was also decided that Arian bishops, presbyters and deacons who converted to Catholicism should be celibate. Only lectors were not required to maintain celibacy.[37]

Everything seems to indicate that the Third Council of Toledo did not accept Arian ordinations as valid, since the Second Council of Zaragoza of 592 states that Arian presbyters and bishops had to be blessed in order to become such in the Catholic Church.[38]

At the Third Council of Toledo it was decided that the temples of the Arians who converted to Catholicism would become the property of the Catholic bishops of that territory.[39] Arian books were condemned at the council, but there is no record that they were destroyed by Reccared. The only report of their burning is a later account by pseudo-Fredegar.[39]

In 590 Leander presided over the First Council of Seville, at which eight bishops of the Province of Baetica were present. This council rejected the possibility that a Bishop without heirs could set free a serf belonging to his Church without offering adequate compensation.[40]

The First Council of Seville also endorsed the doctrine of the Third Council of Toledo that, if someone bound to celibacy kept a woman in his house and there were suspicions that he had relations with her, he was to be punished by the Church and sell that woman, giving the money to the poor. To this it was added that if presbyters or deacons did not separate themselves from strange women or from "familiarity with the maidservants" after being warned by the Bishop, a judge would seize those women, sell them, and the money would be given to the poor.[41]

The siblings Leander, Isidore and Florentina were buried in the same tomb with a cross and an epitaph. The text of this epitaph is known from four manuscripts (two in the National Library of France in Paris, one in the National Library of Portugal in Lisbon and another in the Municipal Library of Porto) and from a Vita S. Isidori held in the National Library of Spain in Madrid. The epitaph also records the dates of death of the three: Leander on March 14, 602, Isidore on April 4, 636, and Florentina on August 28, 633.[2]

Historical veneration

The Hieronymian Martyrology commemorates a Leandri on February 27. This was probably Leander of Seville.[42]

The Martyrology of Usuard commemorates Leander of Seville on February 27, and the martyrology of Florus of Lyon commemorates him on the same day.[42]

He also appears in the martyrology of the monk Wandelbert of Prüm Abbey, commemorated on February 27.[42]

The calendar of Recemund commemorates him on March 13.[42]

Writings

Two books against the dogmas of the heretics

This work is lost and is so called by Isidore. It had a vehement style, an abundance of biblical references and doctrinal clarifications on the difference between Arianism and Catholicism.[43]

A treatise against the institutions of the Arians

This is another lost work and is so called by Isidore. It was structured in questions and answers. Its aim was to refute Arianism.[44]

Isidore says that Leander wrote many liturgical texts and even musical compositions. He also says that he wrote prayers related to the psalms. According to the liturgist Jordi Pinell i Pons, Leander is the author of a series of prayers, collected in the Liber orationum psalmographus, which were recited by priests after a meditation that followed the chanting of the psalm.[45]

Letters

According to Isidore, Leander wrote numerous letters, but he refers to only two: the one he wrote to Gregory the Great about baptism and another teaching one of his siblings not to fear death.[46]

Homily in Praise of the Church

Tradition holds that Leander delivered this homily at the Third Council of Toledo. It is doctrinal and contains biblical references.[47]

On the Instruction of Virgins and the Contempt of the World

It was written by Leander when he was bishop for his sister Florentina, who was about to take vows as a religious in a convent of his diocese. It was believed to consist of only 21 chapters, but in 1948 a version with 31 chapters was discovered in a codex of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.[48]

This work contains a doctrinal explanation of virginity, based on the vanity of the world and betrothal to Christ. It discusses how a religious should deal with laywomen, with men and with young people. It also deals with the subject of charity. It says that the consecrated woman must have a series of virtues such as modesty, knowing how to endure calumny, not calumniating, not being proud, adorning the soul with the Christian virtues, humility, patience, temperance and knowing how to avoid gossip. It deals briefly with the activities to be carried out in a monastery, such as reading, prayer and manual work. It also deals with the consumption of wine, fasting, abstinence from meat and the attitude to be taken toward abundance and need.[49]

Attributions

Pasquier Quesnel and Enrique Flórez attribute the Sermo in solemniis sancti Vincetii martyris to Leander of Seville.[50]

Furthermore, given Leander's importance at the Third Council of Toledo, the following texts from that event are attributed to him: the Tomus regi, the profession of faith with the anathemas, and the edict of the King confirming the council.[51]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 21.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 José Carlos Martín Iglesias (2010). "El Epitaphium Leandri, Isidori et Florentinae (ICERV 272) o la compleja transmisión manuscrita de un texto epigráfico: nueva edición y estudio". Euphrosyne: Revista de filología clássica (in español) (38): 139–164. ISSN 0870-0133.
  3. ↑ [1]Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
  4. ↑ 28 in leap years
  5. ↑ Calendario litúrgico Archived 2014-02-09 at the Wayback Machine – Conferencia Episcopal Española, p. 337
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 67.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 José Sánchez Herrero (2018). "San Isidoro de Sevilla. Biografía". San Isidoro de Sevilla en Sevilla (in español). Universidad de Sevilla: 13–29. ISBN 978-84-472-1950-6.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  8. ↑ Fundación Ignacion Larramendi. "LEANDRO DE SEVILLA" (in español).
  9. ↑ Carlos Ferrándiz Araujo (2003). "San Isidoro, hijo de Cartagena". San Isidoro, doctor de las Españas (in español). Caja Duero, Fundación Caja Murcia y Fundación El Monte: 15–42. ISBN 84-8455-099-0.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: periodical has ISBN (link)
  10. ↑ Ignacio José García Zapata (2021). "La Imagen de una diócesis. Los cuatro santos de Cartagena y su presencia en el arte. «Honra de Cartagena, Gloria de España y Esmalte de la Fe Católica»". Carthaginensia: Revista de estudios e investigación (in español). 37 (71): 225–248. ISSN 0213-4381.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 22.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 23.
  13. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 25.
  14. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 26.
  15. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 27.
  16. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 27–28.
  17. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 36–37.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 29.
  19. ↑ "San Mausona" (in español). Real Academia de la Historia. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  20. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 29–30.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 30.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 31.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 42.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 43.
  25. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 45–46.
  26. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 39–40.
  27. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 47–48.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 48.
  29. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 49.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 44.
  31. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 50.
  32. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 56.
  33. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 57.
  34. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 73–74.
  35. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 78–79.
  36. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 80.
  37. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 81.
  38. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 82–83.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 84.
  40. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 88.
  41. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 89–90.
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 118–119.
  43. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 97.
  44. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 97–98.
  45. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 98–102.
  46. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 102–104.
  47. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, p. 104.
  48. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 104–106.
  49. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 163–164.
  50. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 109–111.
  51. ↑ Domínguez del Val 1981, pp. 111–112.

Bibliography

  • Domínguez del Val, Ursicino (1981). Leandro de Sevilla y la lucha contra el arrianismo (in español). Editora Nacional. ISBN 84-276-0519-6.
Wikimedia Commons logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leander of Seville.
Retrieved from "https://en.hispanopedia.com/index.php?title=Leander_of_Seville&oldid=1976"