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Other than that he was a monk from Syria, little is known of the early life of Isaac. He was probably one of the number of monastics who fled Syria about the year 519 during a wave of persecution by Monophysite hierarchy in Syria. When Isaac arrived in Spoleto in Italy he spent three days and nights praying in one of the [[church]]es of the community. After one of the caretakers of the church became possessed after abusing him, Isaac banished the evil spirit from the man. Soon after his [[exorcism]] Isaac began to attract followers.
With his increased popularity, he received offers of land on which his followers wanted him to establish a [[monastery]]. Isaac, however, chose a deserted place where he built a small [[hermitage]] at Monteluco near Spoleto that was the foundation of the monastery of San Giuliano of which, in 528, he became the first [[abbot]]. His followers continued to beg him to accept money, which he turned away, saying, "A monk who seeks a living upon earth is no monk". HIs [[asceticism |His ascetic]] life style placed him as one of the restorers of ascetic [[monasticism]] in Italy. He reposed about the year 550.
The only source of information concerning the life of St. Isaac is that in the ''Dialogues'' of [[Gregory the Dialogist]], Pope of Rome. Among [[Pope]] Gregory's sources was one Gregoria, a noble woman whom St. Isaac helped become a nun. According to tradition, it was Gregoria who gave the land to Isaac for his hermitage that became the Monastery of San Giuliano.
