Saints celebrated on the 15th of May
SAINT ISIDORE THE FARMER
(St Isidore, Patron of Madrid, Labourer.) 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 human condition and to nature; the state which was sanctified by the example of the primitive holy patriarchs, and which affords the most favourable 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 labourer do not offer?
HE WAS BORN AT MADRID
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 ardour for every virtue, and especially for prayer. Good books are a great help to holy meditation; but not indispensably requisite.
SAINTS WHO WERE NOT ABLE TO READ
St Irenaeus mentions whole nations which believed in Christ, and abounded in exemplary livers, without knowing the use of ink or paper. Many illustrious anchorets knew no other alphabet than that of humility and divine charity. The great St Antony himself could not so much as read the Greek or Latin languages: nay, from the words of St Augustine, some doubt whether he could read even his own barbarous Egyptian dialect.
THE SCIENCE OF THE SAINTS
Yet in the science of the saints, what philosopher or orator ever attained to the A B C of that great man? Learning, if it puff up the mind, or inspire 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 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, was his desire the stronger and the more pure. His patience in bearing all injuries, and in 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 every one, gave him the most complete victory over himself and his passions.
WORK - A MOST PERFECT ACT OF RELIGION
Labour 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 labours 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 labour 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 sanctified it by continual prayer.
AN EMINENT DEGREE OF SANCTITY
Whilst his hand held the plough, he in his heart conversed with God, with his angel guardian, and the other blessed spirits; sometimes deploring the sins of the world, and his own spiritual miseries, 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 the nights, and had suffered the scorching heats of summer, and the cold of winter; and that the stock, which he found small, had been 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 a 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 labour 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 imitatrix of his virtues, and a partner in his good works. She died in 1175, and is honoured in Spain among the saints. Her immemorial veneration was approved by Pope Innocent XII. in 1697.
DEVOTION, PATIENCE, AND CHEERFULNESS
St Isidore being seized with the sickness of which he died, foretold his last hour, and prepared himself for it with redoubled fervour, and with the most tender devotion, patience, and cheerfulness. The piety with which he received the last sacraments drew tears from all who were present. Repeating inflamed acts of divine love, he expired on May 15, 1170, being near sixty years of age.
MIRACLES
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 been since placed in the bishop’s chapel, and during these five hundred years remains entire and fresh, being honoured 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 Casarubious 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 canonisation was performed at the request of the King Philip IV on March 12, 1622; though the bull was only made public by Benedict XIII.
From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints
➡️ More information about St Isidore the Farmer
Comments
Post a Comment