Leander of Seville

Who they were

Leander, born at Carthage about 534, was the brother of Sts Isidore, Fulgentius and Florentina. He became a monk and in 579 Bishop of Seville, where he founded a celebrated school of learning and orthodoxy.

He helped convert Prince Hermenegild, was exiled by the Arian King Leovigild, and after 589 did most to secure the religious unity and faith of Spain. He died at Seville on 13 March 600 or 601.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

A bishop who led Visigothic Spain from Arianism to the Catholic faith.

Connected on this site

• Florentina Saint Brother or sister
• Fulgentius of Cartagena Saint Brother or sister
• Isidore of Seville Saint Brother or sister
  “At a time of disintegration of classical culture, aristocratic violence, and widespread illiteracy, Isidore was involved in the conversion of the Arian Visigothic kings to Catholicism, both assisting his brother Leander of Seville and continuing after Leander's death.” — Wikipedia
• Hermenegild Saint
  “In 576 he married the Catholic Frankish princess Ingundis, and, influenced by her and by St Leander of Seville, became a Catholic.” — this site's research