Happy Feast Day, Internet!

Today is the Feast of St. Isidore of Seville, a 7th Century bishop and Doctor of the Church. These days, Isidore is probably best known and most needed as the Patron Saint of computers and the internet. This may seem a strange designation for someone who died more than 1300 years before the invention of the computer, but if you know anything about the life and legacy of St. Isidore, it makes sense. Born in what is now Spain in 560, Isidore was at first a poor student. After turning all of his learning over to God's guidance, however, he became the best of students and eventually was known as one of the most learned men of the Middle Ages. He eventually became bishop of Seville, but is most remembered because of his writings. Isidore compiled one of the first comprehensive encyclopedias - a compendium of all knowledge about every subject known at the time. In a sense, this encyclopedia was a distant precursor to the Internet, which also proposes to contain all knowledge - fact and opinion - that is available to the human race. It is for this reason that, in 2001, St. Isidore became the leading candidate for a Patron Saint of the Internet.

While this patronage is not an official Vatican declaration, it has been embraced by people around the world who see the need for our computer use and the evolution of the Internet to be placed under God's guidance and the intercession of a Patron Saint. Computer users can ask for St. Isidore's prayers when their computers frustrate them - I have a friend who has a small statue of St. Isidore sitting on top of her computer monitor. But we can also ask for the prayers of St. Isidore to guide the use of the Internet, so that it is used for good - for learning, for communication, for maintaining healthy relationships, and for healthy entertainment - and not to lead us away from God or other people. The Internet can easily isolate its users from interaction with real people, but we pray through St. Isidore that we may learn to embrace this technology as a supplement for relationships and not as a replacement. But in any case, Happy Feast Day, Internet!