Also called Isidore of Seville prayer before going online, patron saint of computers
Isidore of Seville, the seventh-century bishop who wrote an encyclopedia of everything known in his day, is the saint most often proposed as patron of the internet. He has never been officially named to that role. This page sets out the real history and a short prayer before going online.
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
Take care: Nothing risky here. If you are not Catholic, you can use the intention-setting part on its own without the saint.
A grassroots group formed around the idea of Isidore as internet patron, offering online prayer and encouraging Catholics to use the web well. It is a private association, not an official Vatican body.
Some librarians and teachers mark 4 April by reading from the Etymologies, the twenty-book encyclopedia that preserved much classical learning for medieval Europe. It is a quiet way to honor him as a collector and sorter of knowledge.
Isidore was born around 560 and served as bishop of Seville from about 600 until his death in 636. His great work, the Etymologiae, gathered grammar, medicine, law, geography and natural history into twenty books arranged by subject. For centuries it was one of the most copied books in Europe after the Bible. Pope Innocent XIII declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1722, and his feast is kept on 4 April.
In the late 1990s Catholic internet users began proposing Isidore as patron of the web, since he had built something like a database of the known world. Vatican sources were reported to see him as a leading candidate, and the claim that John Paul II named him in 1997 is widely repeated. No official decree has been found, so the patronage is popular devotion, not formal appointment. The prayer here is a modern adaptation.
A rosemary charm for studying and exams: you keep fresh rosemary on your desk while you revise, carry a sprig into the exam, and pair it with a written goal in the style of a Japanese exam-pass amulet. It supports good study habits, it does not replace them.
Opening a respected book at random and taking the first passage your eye or finger lands on as an answer to your question.
Christian protection from evil has long been sought through short prayers to one's guardian angel and to the Archangel Michael, and through older breastplate prayers that wrap the speaker in God's protection.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
