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| A medieval rendition of Isidore on the re-population of the earth by Noah's sons |
It is a stroke of genius and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that this Doctor, Isidore of Seville, who wrote on the edge of destruction his twenty volumes of classical, Catholic knowledge, that he is the patron of computer programmers, geeks, and all of us who use computers regularly.
Part of our call is to preserve civilization and spread Catholicism throughout the Net.
How wonderful we have such a great patron.
There is so much in his work that I can hardly choose which sections to highlight for the perfection series. His section on baptism is great. His section on the Names and Attributes of God is brilliant. Here is a small piece on the Trinity.
5. For this Trinity some names are appellative (appellativus), and some are proper (proprius). The proper
ones name the essence, such as God, Lord, Almighty,
Immutable, Immortal. These are proper because they
signify the very substance by which the three are one.
6. But appellative names are Father and Son and Holy
Spirit, Unbegotten and Begotten and Proceeding. These
same are also relational (relativus) because they have reference (referre, ppl. relatus) to one another. When one
says “God,” that is the essence, because he is being named
with respect to himself. But when one says Father and
Son and Holy Spirit, these names are spoken relationally,
because they have reference to one another. 7. For we say
‘Father’ not with respect to himself, but with respect to
his relation to the Son, because he has a son; likewise we
speak of ‘Son’ relationally, because he has a father; and so
‘Holy Spirit,’ because it is the spirit of the Father and the
Son. 8. This relationship is signified by these ‘appellative
terms’ (appellatio), because they have reference to one
another, but the substance itself, in which the three are
one, is not thus signified.
Hence the Trinity exists in the relational names of the
persons. Deity is not tripled, but exists in singleness, for
if it were tripled we would introduce a plurality of gods.
9. For that reason the name of ‘gods’ in the plural is said
with regard to angels and holy people, because they are
not his equal in merit.10. Concerning these is the Psalm
(81:6 Vulgate), “I have said: You are gods.” But for the
Father and Son and Holy Spirit, because of their one and
equal divinity, the name is observed to be not ‘gods’ but
‘God,’ as the Apostle says (I Corinthians 8:6): “Yetto us
there is but one God,” or as we hear from the divine voice
(Mark 12:29, etc.), “Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is
one God,” namely inasmuch as he is both the Trinity
and the one Lord God.
However, here is Isidore on martyrs, which is applicable to my study here on perfection. Notice that he writes both of red and green martyrdom. These are two ways to perfection.
xi. Martyrs (De martyribus) 1. ‘Martyrs’ (martyr) in
the Greek language (i.e.
) are called ‘witnesses’
(testis) in Latin, whence ‘testimonials’ are calledmartyria
in Greek. And they are called witnesses because for their
witness (testimonium) of Christ they suffered their passions and struggled for truth even to the point of death.
2. But because we call them nottestes, which we certainly
could do, using the Latin term, but rather ‘martyrs’ in
the Greek, this Greek word sounds quite familiar in the
ears of the Church, as do many Greek terms that we use
in place of Latin.
3. The first martyr in the New Testament was Stephen,
whose name in Hebrew speech is interpreted “standard,”
because in his martyrdom he was the first standard for
the imitation of the faithful. The same name is rendered
from the Greek tongue into Latin as “the crowned one,”
and this by way of prophecy, because through a certain foreseeing of the future his name signified beforehand what would come to pass, for he suffered, and
what he was called, he received. Thus ‘Stephen’ means
“crown”; he was in humility stoned, but in sublimity
crowned.
4. Further there are two kinds of martyr: one in manifest passion, the other in hidden valor of the soul. Indeed,
many people, suffering the snares of the enemy and
resisting all carnal desires, because they sacrificed themselves in their hearts for almighty God, became martyrs
even in times of peace – those indeed who, if a period of
persecution had occurred, could have been martyrs.
To be continued...