Ildefonsus of Toledo

Holy Hierarch Ildefonsus of Toledo was born around 8 December 607 at Toledo, into a prominent Visigothic family, and reposed on 23 January 667. He was archbishop of Toledo from 657 (in some accounts 658) and one of the Fathers of the Church in Spain, a scholar and theologian. His Gothic name was Hildefuns.

His uncle Eugenius, who later became bishop of Toledo, began to educate him. Around 632 Bishop Eladius ordained him deacon, but Ildefonsus, defying his family's plans, chose to become a monk at the monastery of Agali outside the city. While still a simple monk he founded and endowed a monastery of nuns. In 650 he was elected abbot of Agali. King Recceswinth compelled him to accept the archiepiscopal see, as he later complained to his disciple and successor Quiricus of Barcelona, to whom he dedicated his work on the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God (De perpetua virginitate).

At the end of the 8th century, Cixila, archbishop of Toledo, embellished the story of his life. According to him, one day, as he was praying before the relics of Saint Leocadia, the martyr rose from her tomb and thanked him for his devotion to the Mother of God. On 18 December 665 the Most Pure One is said to have appeared to him and given him a priestly vestment, as a reward for the zeal with which he served her. A council of Toledo decreed that 18 December be kept as a feast of the Mother of God in memory of this vision.

He was buried in the church of Santa Leocadia at Toledo; in the time of the wars his relics were moved to Zamora, where they are kept in the church of Saints Peter and Ildefonsus. He is a patron of Toledo, Zamora and other places. He is commemorated on 23 January, by the Western calendar (new style). He is a saint of the undivided Church.