Ildephonsus was a scholar and theologian who served as the metropolitan Bishop of Toledo for the last decade of his life. His Gothic name was Hildefuns.

Ildefonsus was born to a prominent Visigothic family in Toledo during the reign of Witteric. Civil wars racked the Visigothic kingdom during most of Ildefonsus' life. He began his religious career circa 632 when Bishop Eladius of Toledo ordained him as a deacon. However, Ildefonse defied his family's plans for his clerical career by becoming a monk at the Agali monastery outside the city. While he was still a simple monk, he founded and endowed a monastery of nuns.

In 650 Ildefonsus was elected its abbot of Agali. In that capacity, he attended two synods of the Iberian church, the 8th and 9th Councils of Toledo. When his uncle Bishop Eugenius II died in 657, Ildefonsus was elected his successor as bishop of Toledo.

It was reported that on 18 December 665 he experienced a vision of the Blessed Virgin when she appeared to him in person and presented him with a priestly vestment, to reward him for his zeal in honouring her. She praised Ildefonsus for his devotion, and vested him with a special chasuble from her son's treasury, which she instructed the bishop to wear only during Marian festivals.

Ildefonsus died after a decade in office and was buried at his (and the city's) basilica, Toledo's Church of Santa Leocadia.

Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint Agathangelus
2. Saint Amasius
3. Saint Barnard
4. Saint Eusebius
5. Saint John the Almoner

-catholic.org