Deepertruth: Stand In The Gap With Us And Saint Leander of Seville

 Stand In The Gap With Us And  Saint Leander of Seville 3/13/2024

Leander was born to Roman parents somewhere around the year 534 in Carthage. When Leander was a young man, his family moved to Seville. Leander became a Benedictine monk and in 579 was made Bishop of Seville. He also established a school, which became known as a center of learning and orthodoxy. Leander became a great defender of the faith against Arianism, which was a heresy that denied the Divinity of Christ. During this time he also befriended Princess Ingunthis and assisted her in her attempts to convert her husband to Christianity.

Her husband was the son of Leovigild, the Arian King of the Visigoths, and Leovigild was infuriated by his son’s conversion.

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. 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. By the end of his life, Leander had helped Christianity flourish in Spain at a time of political and religious upheaval.

Leander’s own family were staunch Christians: his brothers Isidore and Fulgentius were named bishops, and their sister Florentina became an abbess. Leander entered a monastery as a young man and spent three years in prayer and study. At the end of that tranquil period he was made a bishop. For the rest of his life he worked strenuously to fight against heresy. The death of the anti-Christian king in 586 helped Leander’s cause. He and the new king worked hand in hand to restore orthodoxy and a renewed sense of morality. Leander succeeded in persuading many Arian bishops to change their loyalties.