When he was barely old enough to wield a hoe, Saint Isidore the Farmer entered the service of John de Vergas, a wealthy landowner from Madrid, and worked faithfully on his estate outside the city for the rest of his life. He married a young woman as simple and upright as himself who also became a saint—Maria de la Cabeza. They had one son, who died as a child.

Isidore frequented Holy Mass every morning but often reported to work late. Late, though he was, his plowing was nevertheless accomplished by angels that resulted in three times more productivity. His coworkers and his boss witnessed such miraculous events and accorded Isidore with great respect.

All day long, as he walked behind the plow, he communed with God. Many marvelous happenings accompanied his lifelong work in the fields and continued long after his holy death. He was favored with celestial visions and, it is said, the angels sometimes helped him in his work in the fields.

He was known for his love of the poor, and there are accounts of Isidore’s supplying them miraculously with food. He had a great concern for the proper treatment of animals.

He died May 15, 1130, and was declared a saint in 1622 with Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Avila and Philip Neri. Together, the group is known in Spain as “the five saints.” St. Isidore has become the patron of farmers and rural communities. In particular he is the patron of Madrid, Spain, and of the United States National Rural Life Conference.

Love uCATHOLIC?
Get our inspiring content delivered to your inbox every morning - FREE!

17 COMMENTS

  1. St. Isidore, please pray for me to the Lord Our God. Please pray that we get sufficient rain this year. Please pray that we all join you and the rest of the saints in Heaven with the Holy Father for eternity. Amen.

  2. Saint isidore please plead on behalf of myself & my husband that our marriage would grow to become a bond that can never be broken.please pray for our success & breakthrough with open doors of countless divine favour & in your mercy remove every stumbling stone on our way to success.

  3. Good Saint, we are told that your devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was so great that you would rise before it was light in order to be able to attend Mass before beginning your work in the fields. Obtain for us, we pray you, some of that loving devotion to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There it is that the fruits of our farm labor, bread and wine, are brought and offered to God by the priest. Then, in the consecration, Christ Himself, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, becomes present on our altars under the appearances of this same bread and wine. And in what was the altar bread, He comes to us to be the very food of our souls. If we deeply realize the value and beauty of Holy Mass, we will be very happy to attend as often as we possibly can.

    Help us to understand that in the Mass we offer ourselves to God with Christ by the hands of the priest. There we can bring to God all that we do, and offer it to Him in union with His Holy Sacrifice. The oftener we do this now, the happier we shall be hereafter. Good Saint Isidore, bless us and our labors, that we may some day reap the reward of good works with you in heaven. Amen.

  4. SAINT ISIDORE,,,,PRAY FOR OUR FARMERS,,,,,,,,
    THEIR WORK IS DIFFICULT AS THEY CANNOT CONTROL THE ELEMENTS!!!!!!
    BE WITH THEM AS THEY WORK TO FEED YOUR PEOPLE!!!!!!! AMEN

  5. Saint Isidore please pray for our coffee person David of Main Street Morning Group that he come back to us.

  6. I think there might be a mistake in the first sentence where it says “John de Vergas” … The correct last name has to be de Vargas*. The misspelled version translates to a bad word.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here