Like many people, I was surprised to find that there was a patron saint of the internet and even more surprised to learn who it was. In 1997, Pope John Paul II chose Saint Isidore of Seville (560-636) as the patron saint of the internet.
Why select someone so decided un-modern as a bishop from the Middle Ages? St. Isidore wrote a twenty-book opus (called Etymologia) an encyclopedia of grammar, rhetoric, theology, history, medicine, and mathematics that were the first encyclopedias of the Christian world, which is akin to the knowledge made available by the internet.
There is even a prayer to St. Isidore that is suggested before using the internet that asks for direction that
during our journeys through the internet we will direct our hands and eyes only to that which is pleasing to Thee and treat with charity and patience all those souls whom we encounter.
In this spirit, we celebrate St. Isidore’s Day for all that is good about the internet.
Cyber Report 