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The Spanish bishop and scholar St. Isidore of Seville (560?-636) was born in Cartagena. There were three other canonized saints in his family, including his older brother St. Leander. Leander, who was twenty years older than Isidore, was responsible for his education. Isidore eventually became a great scholar. Leander became bishop of Seville about the year 600. When Leander died, Isidore succeeded him, and remained Bishop of Seville for the rest of his life. He greatly strengthened the Church in Spain, establishing seminaries and religious houses, organizing church councils, and seeking to convert the Visigoths (a Germanic tribe which had invaded Spain) to Catholicism. Isidore continued his scholarly endeavors, authoring a dictionary, an encyclopedia, and a history of the world. During his last few months, he increased his charities so much that his house was filled with beggars from dawn to nightfall. St. Isidore died in 636 and was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church (an eminent and reliable teacher) in 1722 by Pope Innocent XIII. 
The €1,25 Vatican stamp dedicated to the anniversary of St Isidore of Seville Proclaimed Doctor of the Church features an oil-on-canvas painting depicting the Saint, a work by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in 1655 and found at the Cathedral of Seville in Spain.

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