Ildefonsus
Life and witness
At Toledo, of St. Ildefonsus, bishop, who for his singular integrity of life, and defending the virginity of the Mother of God against certain heretics that impugned the same, re-. ceived of her a most pure white vestment; and finally, famous for holiness, was called unto heaven.
Alban Butler: January–March · ST. ILDEFONSUS, B.
HE was a learned Benedictin abbot of a monastery called Agaliense, in a suburb of Toledo, promoted to the archbishopric of that city after the death of Eugenius, in December, 657, according to F. Flores; sat nine years and two months, and died on the 23d of January, 667, according to the same learned author, in the eighteenth year of king Rescisvintho. His most celebrated work is a book On the spotless virginity of the Virgin Mary, against Helvidius, Jovinian, and a certain Jew: he breathes in it the most tender devotion to her, and confidence in her intercession with her Son. He had a singular devotion to St. Leocadia, patroness of Toledo. Certain sermons of St. Ildefonsus on the B. Virgin Mary, and some letters, are published by Flores.[1] Some of his letters, which were first given us by D'Achery, were reprinted by cardinal D'Aguirre.[2] In Spanish this saint is called Ildefonso, and by the common people Alanso, for Alphonsus, which is an abbreviation of Ildefonsus. See his short life by St. Julian, bishop of Toledo, twenty-three years after his death. In Mabillon, saec. 2. Fleury, b. 39, n. 40. That by Cixila is not authentic. See especially the remarks of the learned F. Flores on these two lives, &c., in his Spana Sagrada, t. 5, tr. 5, c. 3, n. 31, p. 275, and app. 9, ib. p. 522. F. Flores reckons St. Ildefonsus the thirty-first bishop of Toledo, from St. Eugenius, the disciple of St. Dionysius of Paris, whom, with the writers of his country, he counts the first, in the year 112.
Footnotes: 1. F. Flores. Spana Sagrada, t. 5, append. 7, p. 490. 2. Card. D'Aguirre, Conc. Hispan. t. 2, p. 534.
Biographical overview
Ildefonsus or Ildephonsus (rarely Ildephoses or Ildefonse; Spanish: San Ildefonso; c. 8 December A.D. 607 – 23 January A.D. 667) was a scholar and theologian who served as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Toledo for the last decade of his life. His Gothic name was Hildefuns. In the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church he is known as Dexius (ደቅስዮስ Daqsəyos) based on the Ge'ez translation of legends about his life. Although his writings were less influential outside of Hispania, Ildefonsus was canonised and remained a potent force in the Iberian Peninsula for centuries. Spanish missionaries, and to a lesser extent Portuguese ones, spread his ideas worldwide.
Martyrologium Romanum · Latin witness
Toleti, in Hispania, sancti Ildefonsi Episcopi, qui, ob singularem vitae integritatem, susceptamque fidei defensionem adversus haereticos, sanctissimae Dei Genitricis virginitatem impugnantes, ab eadem Virgine Maria donatus est candidissima veste ac demum, sanctitate celebris, in caelum vocatus.