ISIDORO L'AGRICOLTORE, saint. — Also called I. of Madrid, born around 1070 and died on 15 May 1130 in Madrid.
He practiced the occupation of farmer in an exemplary manner, devoting himself at the same time to a life of continual prayer and charity toward his neighbor. His wife, Maria Toribia, by whom he had a son, is likewise venerated under the title of blessed (cf. Acta SS. Maii, III, Antwerp 1680, pp. 550–57). On 14 June 1619 Paul V approved his cult, and Gregory XV solemnly canonized him on 12 March 1623. He is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 10 May.
also in the West (cf. Gregory of Tours, In gloria Martyram, 101), has overshadowed his namesake martyrs, such as the one mentioned by Eusebius of Caesarea, likewise an Egyptian and a victim of the persecution of Decius (Hist. eccl., VI, 41, 19). It is therefore highly probable that references to relics or churches of St. I., without any further indication, down to the early centuries of the Middle Ages, should be understood as referring to our martyr. Thus, in Constantinople, the chapel containing relics of St. I., built beside St. Irene by St. Marcian (5th century); at Calama (Guelma) and Henchir Djulta in Africa, the inscriptions mentioning relics of St. I.; the lamp bearing the name of St. I. found in Egypt and the church dedicated to him at Dejr el-Medinet; in Rome, the church and monastery mentioned respectively in the Topografia einsieldense (ed. R. Valentini-G. Zucchetti, Codice topografico della città di Roma, II, Rome 1942, p. 187) and in the Lib. Pont., in the biography of Leo III (II, p. 24; Valentini-Zucchetti, op. cit., p. 301). The relics of St. I., transported to Venice in 1125 (cf. Translatio by Cerbano Cerbani: BHL, 4481), were subsequently placed by Doge Andrea Dandolo in St. Mark’s, in the sumptuous chapel that he had decorated with mosaics depicting the stories of the Saint (1354–55).
The Synaxaries (Synax. Constantinop., col. 683) and the Bernese codex of the Hieronymian Martyrology (Martyr. Hieronym., pp. 253, 255) commemorate him on 14 May; the Roman Martyrology (Martyr. Romanum, pp. 50, 190) on 5 February and 15 May, treating them as two distinct persons, whereas the two notices refer to the same person. — Vedi tav. XVIII.