St Isidore the Farmer

Laborer: ca. 1080-1130

His life

+ We know very little about Saint Isidore, who spent most of his life as a peasant-farmer in the service of a wealthy landowner near Madrid, Spain.

+ A devout man, Isidore would visit local churches and shrines and would pray as he worked in the fields.

+ A famous legend about Saint Isidore claims that one day, when he should have been serving in the fields, he had stayed too long at morning Mass. When the landowner heard that Isidore was not working, he rushed to the fields to catch him and discovered angels guiding the plough and Isidore standing in prayer nearby.

+ Saint Isidore the Farmer died in 1130. He was canonized in 1622 in the same ceremony as Saints Ignatius Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Philip Neri, and Francis Xavier.

+ The relics of Saint Isidore are enshrined in the Church of St. Andrew in Madrid and he is honored as a patron saint of farmers and of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference of the United States.

Spirit bonus

The wife of Saint Isidore the Farmer, known as Maria  de la Cabeza, is also honored as a saint.

Prayer
Lord God,
all creation is yours, and you call us to serve you
by caring for the gifts that surround us.
May the example of Saint Isidore urge us
to share our food with the hungry
and to work for the salvation of mankind.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever. Amen.<

(from The Liturgy of the Hours)

~

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.