Saint Isidore the Farmer
Feast day: May 15
Saint Isidore, a farmworker of Madrid who worked hard and prayed, patron of farmers (15/05)
Who is he?
Saint Isidore the Farmer lived in the 11th–12th centuries and was a poor farmworker in Madrid, Spain. He was not a priest, not a religious, and he did not write books. He was simply a laborer for a landowner, with a family like many others. Don’t confuse him with Saint Isidore of Seville, the learned bishop who lived about 500 years before him.
Life story
Isidore worked for a rich landowner in Madrid named Juan de Vargas. Every morning he went to Mass before going out to the fields. The other workers were jealous and told the master that he came to work late. According to tradition, the master went out to the fields to watch him. He saw Isidore praying, and beside him an angel plowing the field in his place. From then on the master respected him, and later put him in charge of the whole farm.
Isidore loved the poor very much. He often shared his food with the hungry, sometimes keeping only a little for himself. A story tells that on a snowy winter day, he saw a flock of hungry pigeons and poured out half a sack of wheat for them. Other people laughed at him, but when the grain was taken to be milled, the sack that was left gave twice as much flour. His wife, María Toribia, was also a devout woman, and together they lived in poverty, prayed and helped others.
Isidore died in the 12th century (some documents say in 1130, others in 1172). The people of Madrid loved him dearly and came to pray at his tomb. In 1622, Pope Gregory XV declared him a saint on the same day as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Francis Xavier, Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Philip Neri.
Why is he a saint?
Saint Isidore shows that ordinary people doing ordinary work can become saints too. He put God first every day, worked honestly, did not hold a grudge against those who disliked him, and was generous to the poor, and even to animals. He is the patron saint of the city of Madrid and of farmers.
A lesson for you
- Jesus teaches us to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the other things will be given to us besides (cf. Mt 6:33). Pray before you study or work.
- Do your chores and your schoolwork carefully and honestly, even when no one is watching.
- At every meal, thank God and the farmers who grow our rice.
Identifying marks
- An iron-bladed spade in his right hand: a farmworker’s tool; he became holy right in the middle of his manual work.
- A sheaf of wheat in his left hand: the fruit of his farm work and of his generous sharing.
- A brown jacket, knee breeches, white stockings, a straw hat on his back: the clothing on statues of Saint Isidore in Spain in later centuries, not the medieval clothes he actually wore.
- An angel with a pair of oxen in the field behind: according to tradition, an angel plowed for him while he prayed.
- A city with a church dome in the distance: the city of Madrid, where he lived and which took him as its patron.
The text on this page is the saint card in the Catholic Information app, word for word.
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