St. Isidore was probably born in Seville about 565. His two brothers, Leander (Archbishop of Seville) and Fulgentius (Bishop of Ecija), and his sister Florentina, are saints.

Isidore attended the monastic school where his older brother Leander, a monk, supervised his education. 

John Gilmary Shea wrote, “As a boy [Isidore] despaired at his ill success in study, and ran away from school. Resting in his flight at a roadside spring, he observed a stone, which was hollowed out by the dripping water. This decided him to return, and by hard application he succeeded where he had failed. He went back to his master, and with the help of God became, even as a youth, one of the most learned men of the time.”

Isidore himself later became a monk. When Leander died (about 600), Isidore succeeded him as Archbishop of Seville. In 633 Isidore presided over the Council of Toledo, which established liturgical uniformity (the Mozarabic Rite) throughout Spain and ordered that a seminary be established in every diocese. 

Isidore is sometimes called “schoolmaster of the Middle Age” because of his Etymologies, a total of 20 books that formed a general encyclopedia and were a summary of all religious and secular learning up to his time. Isidore died in Seville on April 4, 636. In 1722 Pope Innocent XIII declared him a doctor of the Church.

During the General Audience on June 18, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the writings of St. Isidore on active and contemplative life.

Isidore wrote about the inner conflict between the desire for solitude and the demands of pastoral life experienced by pastors of souls such as St. Gregory the Great, St. Augustine and Isidore himself: “The man responsible for a Church must on the one hand allow himself to be crucified to the world with the mortification of his flesh, and on the other, accept the decision of the ecclesiastical order – when it comes from God’s will – to devote himself humbly to government, even if he does not wish to … Men of God do not in fact desire to dedicate themselves to things of the world and groan when by some mysterious design of God, they are charged with certain responsibilities … They do their utmost to avoid them but accept what they would like to shun and do what they would have preferred to avoid. Indeed, they enter into the secrecy of the heart and seek there to understand what God’s mysterious will is asking of them. And when they realize that they must submit to God’s plans, they bend their hearts to the yoke of the divine decision” 

Isidore wrote on the relations between active and contemplative life: “Those who seek to attain repose in contemplation must first train in the stadium of active life; and then, free from the dross of sin, they will be able to display that pure heart which alone makes the vision of God possible” 

Isidore pointed out Christ’s example of harmonizing active and contemplative life: “The Saviour Jesus offers us the example of active life when during the day he devoted himself to working signs and miracles in the town, but he showed the contemplative life when he withdrew to the mountain and spent the night in prayer … Therefore, let the servant of God, imitating Christ, dedicate himself to contemplation without denying himself active life. Behaving otherwise would not be right. Indeed, just as we must love God in contemplation, so we must love our neighbour with action.” 

 

菲耶索萊以默觀和行動侍服天主

聖菲耶索萊最可能是在公元565年生於塞維利亞。他有兩位兄弟，利安德（塞維利亞總主教），富爾福德（新怡詩夏主教），他的姊妹佛羅倫薩都是聖人。菲耶索萊就讀於隱修會的學校，他的兄長利安德是在那裡的隱修士，利安德監督著他的教育。

約望、吉爾馬里、希亞寫道：「在孩童（菲耶索萊）的時候，他讀書不成，失望而逃走。」在逃走途中，他休止於路邊的一個水泉邊，注意到一塊石，它因水滴而中空。他遂決定回歸，以很大的努力，他成功從跌倒的地方站起來。他回到他的導師處，籍著天主的幫助，尚是年青人的他，卻成為當時其中一位學識最深的人。」

菲耶索萊後來做了隱修士。當利安德去世時（約在公元600年）菲耶索萊繼位為塞維利亞總主教。在公元633年，主持托萊多會議，這會議制定了西班牙統一的禮儀，頒令每一教區建立一神學院。

菲耶索萊也被稱為“中古時代的校長”因為他的字源學，他編了二十本書，構成了一輯一般的百科全書，也是當時宗教和俗世學識的總結。菲耶索萊死於塞維利亞，公元636年4月4日。1722年教宗諾森十三世頒布他為聖師。

2008在年6月18日教宗本篤十六世接見群眾時強調了聖菲耶索萊寫作的默觀和行動。

菲耶索萊寫有關獨修和牧民生活要求的矛盾，按聖額我略，聖奧思定和菲耶索萊自己的經驗：「那位負責教會的，應該在一方面，讓自己以克制肉身而被釘於世俗，另外一方面接受教會任命的決策—當這是來自天主聖意的時候—甚至於自己不願意的時候也謙遜地奉獻自己於管治 …天主的人事實上不願意為世界的事物貢獻自己，並因天主奧妙的計劃下要負上一些職務而呻吟…他們盡他們所能去避開，但接納他們所望能避開的，做他們寧可避開的。實際上，他們進入了內心的隱秘，在那裡尋求明瞭天主奧秘旨意對他們的要求。當他們明白要順從天主的計劃，他們虛心接納至聖旨意的軛。」

菲耶索萊在他有關行動與默觀的寫作中說「那些尋找默觀中休憩的人，首先要在行動生活的體育場內受訓練，然後剔除罪惡的渣滓，他們便能夠展示他們單純的心，只有這顆心可以使人瞻仰天主。」

菲耶索萊指出基督的默觀和行動生活的協調：「救主耶穌行動生活的實例是當祂在日間於城內顯奇跡異兆，祂默觀的實例在祂退到山中，澈夜祈禱…所以讓天主的僕人們，效法基督，投身於默觀之餘也不否定自己行動的生活。否則將是不正確的。真的，就如我們在默觀中愛天主，所以我們要以行動愛我們的鄰人。」