Saint Isidore the farmer. Nheyob / wikimedia / 2016 / CC BY-SA 4.0
The 15th of May is Saint Isidore’s day.
He is the patron saint of farmers. He is also the patron saint of rural communities and of the United States National Rural Life Conference.
On this day, many towns in Spain hold processions in his name to bless the fields for the coming growing season.
#SaintIsidore
History
Isidore is also called Isidore the Laborer. His full name in Spanish was actually Isidro de Merlo y Quintana.
He lived in Spain, near Madrid.
He was born in 1070, and died 15 May 1130 OR sometime in 1172. He was made a saint in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV.
Isidore worked as a hired farmhand.
Legends say that angels would help him plow, enabling him to do the work of several men, or would do the plowing for him while he was praying.
On another occasion, while carrying a sack of wheat to the mill to be ground, he gave some of the wheat to some hungry pigeons he came across but when he arrived at the mill, the bag was still full. He was also able on another occasion to miraculously come up with food to feed poor people.
He is depicted holding a sickle or a staff, and sometimes also with a white ox or an angel near him.
Isidore was married; they had a son who died. He and his wife, Maria, are now buried in the San Isidro Church, Madrid.
Sources
Catholic Rural Life. Isidore and Maria, Patron Saints of Farmers. Accessed April 2021 at https://catholicrurallife.org/resources/spiritual/isidore-and-maria-patron-saints-of-farmers/
Franciscan Media. Saint Isidore the Farmer. Accessed April 2021 at https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-isidore-the-farmer/
Loyola Press. Saint Isidore (the Farmer). Accessed April 2021 at https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/saints/saints-stories-for-all-ages/saint-isidore-the-farmer
University of Notre Dame. St. Isidore the Farmer. Accessed April 2021 at http://faith.nd.edu/s/1210/faith/interior.aspx?pgid=24892&cid=47894&ecid=47894&crid=0