St. Isidore the Farmer, Confessor 304 A.D. October 13      It is a misfortune which deserves to be lamented with floods of tears that ignorance, obstinacy, and vice should so often taint a country life, the state which of all others is most necessary and important to the world, the most conformable to a human condition and to nature, the state which was sanctified by the example of the primitive holy patriarchs and which affords the most favorable opportunities for the perfect practice of every virtue and Christian duty. What advantageous helps to piety did the ancient hermits seek in the deserts which the circumstances of a country laborer do not offer? The life of St. Isidore is a most sensible proof of this assertion. He was born at Madrid of poor but very devout parents and was christened Isidore from the name of their patron, St. Isidore of Seville. They had not the means to procure him learning or a polite education, but, both by word and example, they infused into his tender soul the utmost horror and dread of all sin and the most vehement ardor for every virtue and especially for prayer. Good books are a great help to holy meditation but not indispensably requisite. St. Irenaeus mentions whole nations which believed in Christ and abounded in exemplary livers without knowing the use of ink or paper. Many illustrious anchorites knew no other alphabet than that of humility and divine charity. The great St. Anthony of the desert himself could not so much as read the Greek or Latin languages. Nay, from the words of St. Austin, some doubt whether he could read even his own barbarous Egyptian dialect. Yet in the science of the saints, what philosopher or orator ever attained to the wisdom of that great man? Learning, if it puffs up the mind or inspires any secret self-sufficiency, is an impediment to the communications of the Holy Ghost, simplicity and sincere humility being the dispositions which invite Him into the soul. By these was Isidore prepared to find Him to be an interior Instructor and Comforter. His earnestness in seeking lessons and instructions of piety made him neglect no opportunity of hearing them, and so much the more tender and the deeper were the impressions which they left in his soul as his desire was the stronger and the more pure. His patience in bearing all injuries and of overcoming the envy of fellow servants by cordial kindnesses, his readiness to obey his masters and in indifferent things to comply with the inclinations of others and humbly to serve everyone gave him the the most complete victory over himself and his passions. Labor he considered as enjoined him by God in punishment of sin and for a remedy against it. And he performed his work in a spirit of compunction and penance. Many object that their labors and fatigues leave them little time for the exercises of religion, but Isidore, by directing his attention according to the most holy motives of faith, made his work a most perfect act of religion. He considered it as a duty to God. Therefore, he applied himself to it with great diligence and care in imitation of the angels in heaven who in all things fulfil the will of God with the greatest readiness and alacrity of devotion. The more humbling and the more painful the labor was, the dearer it was to the saint, being a means the more suitable to tame his flesh and a more noble part of his penance. With the same spirit that the saints subdued their bodies by toils in their deserts, Isidore embraced his task. He moreover sanctioned it by continual prayer. While his hand held the plough, he in his heart conversed with God with his guardian angel and the other blessed spirits, sometimes deploring the sins of the world and his own spiritual miseries, and at other times, in the melting words of the royal prophet, raising his desires to the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem. It was chiefly by this perfect spirit of prayer joined with, or rather engrafted upon, a most profound humility and spirit of mortification that St. Isidore arrived at so eminent a degree of sanctity as rendered him the admiration of all Spain. In his youth, he was retained servant by a gentleman named John de Vargas of Madrid to till his land and do his husbandry work. The saint afterwards took a most virtuous woman to wife named Mary Toribia. (Those who call her de la Cabeza were deceived by a chapel to which that name is given because her head is kept in it.) After the birth of one child which died young, the parents by mutual consent served God in perfect continency.      St. Isidore continued always in the service of the same master. On account of his fidelity, he could say to him as Jacob did to Laban that to guard and improve his stock, he had often watched nights and had suffered the scorching heats of summer and the cold of winter and that the stock which he had found small exceedingly increased in his hands. Don John de Vargas, after long experience of the treasure he possessed in this faithful ploughman, treated him as a brother according to the advice of Ecclesiasticus: "Let a wise servant be dear to thee as thy own soul." He allowed him the liberty of assisting daily at the public office of the church. On the other side, Isidore was careful by rising very early to make his devotions no impediment to his business nor any encroachment upon what he owed to his master. This being a duty of justice, it would have been a false devotion to have pretended to please God by neglect of such an obligation. Much less did the good servant indulge his compassionate charity to the poor by relieving them otherwise than out of his own salary. The saint was sensible that in his fidelity, diligence, and assiduous labor consisted, in great part, the sanctification of his soul and that his duty to his master was his duty to God. He also inspired his wife with the same confidence in God, the same love of the poor, and the same disengagement from the things of this world. He made her the faithful imitator of his virtues and a partner in his good works. She died in 1175 and is honored in Spain among the saints. Her immemorial veneration was approved by Pope Innocent XII in 1697.      St. Isidore, being seized with the sickness of which he died, foretold his last hour and prepared himself for it with redoubled fervor and with the most tender devotion, patience, and cheerfulness. The piety with which he received the last sacraments drew tears from all that were present. Repeating inflamed acts of divine love, he expired on the 15th of May, 1170, being near sixty years of age. His death was glorified by miracles. After forty years, his body was removed out of the churchyard into the church of St. Andrew. It has since been placed in the bishop's chapel and during the last five hundred years has remained entire and fresh, being honored by a succession of frequent miracles down to this time. The following, among others, is very well attested. Philip III, in his return from Lisbon, was taken so ill at Casarubios del Monte that his life was despaired of by his physicians, whereupon the shrine of St. Isidore was ordered to be carried in a solemn procession of the clergy, court, and people from Madrid to the chamber of the sick king. The joint prayers of many prevailed. At the same time the shrine was taken out of the church, the fever left the king, and upon its being brought into his chamber, he was perfectly cured. The year following, the body of the saint was put into a new rich shrine which cost one thousand six hundred ducats of gold. St. Isidore had been beatified a little before by Paul V in 1619 at the solicitation of the same king. His solemn canonization was performed at the request of King Philip IV on the 12th of March, 1622. from Lives of the Saints by Rev. Alban Butler, 1895

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