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Meet: Saint Ildefonsus of Toledo, Defender of Mary

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Ildefonsus was born into a renowned Visigothic family. Credit: archive

This holy bishop, devoted to the Virgin, was the nephew of another holy bishop, Saint Eugene of Toledo.

Newsroom (01/23/2026, Gaudium Press)Saint Ildefonsus of Toledo was a holy nephew of another saint, Saint Eugene of Toledo, Archbishop of Toledo, who was his predecessor in the see that would later become the imperial city. His name is believed to be a union of Alfonso and Alonso.

Ildefonsus was born into a renowned Visigothic family. We are at the beginning of the 7th century. Although his father did not wish it, from an early age he took the religious habit at the convent of Agli, near Toledo—a convent of which he himself would later become abbot.

He was ordained deacon in the year 630, and while still a simple monk he founded a convent of religious women in the surrounding area. He was made Archbishop of Toledo around the year 657, at the indication of King Recesvinto.

Wonderful Events in His Life

Contemporary sources portray the great shepherd who governed the See of Toledo for more than nine years. Beautiful traditions about him have come down to us, such as the account of the day he was praying before the relics of Saint Leocadia, when this martyr rose from her tomb and thanked the saint for the devotion he showed to the Mother of God. It is also recounted that on another occasion the Blessed Virgin herself appeared to him and gave him priestly vestments as a reward for the devotion he offered her.

In fact, one of the characteristic traits of this saint is his burning love for the Mother of God, expressed in his writings such as De virginitate perpetua sanctae Mariae adversus tres infideles. This work is not only one of praise, but also apologetic, directed against “three infidels”: Jovinian, Helvidius, and “a Jew,” who contested the perpetual virginity of Our Lady.

The work is divided into three parts: the first is a defense of Mary’s virginity in childbirth against Jovinian; the second, a defense of Mary’s virginity in and after childbirth against Helvidius; and the third, a proclamation of all the greatness of Mary—including her perpetual virginity—against the “Jew.”

This book is one of the two works that have come down to our time—the other includes the saint’s correspondence, hymns, and sermons—by a saint who was a prolific writer.

He was buried in the Basilica of Saint Leocadia.

With information from the Catholic Encyclopedia and Hogardelamadre.org.

 

Compiled by Gustavo Kralj

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