San Isidro labrador - Saint Isidore the farmer

Last year, on our way to Rome for the canonization of Monseñor Óscar Romero and five others, Padre German and I had a long stop-over in Madrid.

Knowing of his devotion to Saint Isidore, San Isidro Labrador, the patron of his home town, I found a way for us to get to the church of San Isidro.

We got there before the church opened and so we stopped for breakfast at a nearby coffee shop. That was a great experience since it was very clearly a neighborhood café. People came in who obviously knew each other and the employees. Some even returned their plates to the bar after they had visited their breakfast. The meal and the coffee were good, but even better was the experience of real life in a big city.

But the experience in the church was amazing. We got there and had a chance to look around and to pray. We attended Mass which just happened to be the feast of the Virgin of El Pilar, an important Spanish feast.

After Mass, we went to great the priest.

When he heard we were from afar and that Padre had a devotion to San Isidro, he arranged for a woman from the association of San Isidro to lead us to the tomb.

The tomb is above the high altar, but you can get close to the tomb and venerate it by a stairway behind the altar. There we had time to pray.

The woman shared with us any number of tales about the tomb – and how the last time the tomb was opened, about 1922, the body was found to be still incorrupt – decades after his death in 1130.

San Isidro Labrador and his wife, Santa María de la Cabeza, are venerated in Madrid and are also recognized throughout the world as patrons of farm laborers. They are also the patrons of the US National Catholic RuralLife Conference.

They show us the beauty and the worth of married life on the land, combing family, prayer, and hard work in the pursuit of holiness.

There are many tales about Saint Isidore, but there are several that celebrate his great generosity and the providence of God.

Once he was on his way to get some grain milled and saw some hungry birds. He shared part of his grain with them. When he arrived at the mill, his sack was full.

Another time, he brought home a large group of hungry people. His wife shared the stew she had prepared but was afraid that there would not be enough. Sure enough, God provided enough for all.

So today, mindful of the hard work of people on the land, I pray for all farm laborers, many of them my neighbors, as well as the many farmers throughout the world who, by the sweat of their brow, provide us with food.

Thank you, God, for them; provide them with what they need and give them a profound sense of the marvelous dignity of their labor.

--> Saint Isidore and Saint María, pray for us, and for all who work the land.