As these words of Bishop Isidore of Seville (d. 636) suggested, charity was considered to be essential to episcopal office. Many of his writings were concerned with ecclesiastical duties, both moral and spiritual, and addressed the responsibilities involved in pastoral care. He vehemently exhorted bishops to engage in charity, one of the highest virtues, which since Early Christianity had been closely connected to episcopacy. Emphasis on charity, therefore, was not new in the seventh century. Its importance can be traced back to Jesus’s teachings found in the Synoptic tradition and the Pauline texts, and revived later in the writings of the Church Fathers during the Early Christian centuries.

As bishops were becoming central figures within the Christian Church and within the communities where they lived and preached, an episcopal model focused on virtues – and particularly on charity – was also being shaped. As a result of extended and heated controversies that sought to define the scope of episcopal authority, bishops strengthened their positions in local communities by concentrating wealth, acquiring privileges, and assuming old practices and social responsibilities. Among the duties that fell under the jurisdiction of the bishops were Christian education and the moral guidance of the flock, the administration of liturgical rites, the protection of marginal and essential groups, the administration of ecclesiastical resources, and the foundation of churches and monasteries.