ISIDORE THE FARMER, Saint. - Also called I. of Madrid, b. around 1070 and d. 15 May 1130 in Madrid.

He practiced the trade of a farmer in an exemplary manner, devoted at the same time to a life of continuous prayer and charity toward his neighbor. His wife too, Maria Toribia, by whom he had a son, is venerated with 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, on 12 March 1623, solemnly canonized him. He is commemorated by the Roman Martyrology on 10 May.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: La Vita, from the end of the 13th century, perhaps written by G. Egidio of Zamora, in Acta SS. Maii, III, Antwerp 1680, pp. 512-19; BHL, 4494; Z. García Villada, S. I. Labrador, in Razão y Fe, 52 (1922), pp. 36 ff., 167, 323 f.

Alberto Chinato

also in the West (cf. Gregory of Tours, In gloria Martyrum, 101), has obscured his namesake martyrs, such as the one commemorated by Eusebius of Caesarea, likewise an Egyptian, a victim of the persecution of Decius (Hist. eccl., VI, 41, 19). It is therefore very probable that the references to relics or to churches of St. I., without further indication, up to the first centuries of the Middle Ages, must refer to our martyr. Thus, at Constantinople, the chapel with relics of St. I., built next to St. Irene by St. Marcian (5th century); at Calama (Guelma) and Henchir Djulta in Africa, the inscriptions with references to relics of St. I.; the lamp with the name of St. I. found in Egypt and the church dedicated to him at Deir el-Medina; at Rome, the church and the monastery mentioned respectively in the Einsiedeln Topography (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. the Translatio of Cerbano Cerbani: BHL, 4481), were later 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 Synaxaria (Synax. Constantinop., col. 683) and the Bern codex of the Jeronymian 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, making of him two distinct persons, whereas the two notices refer to the same person. - See plate XVIII.

Plate XVIII Above: THE SAINT EXORCISES VALERIA AND AFRA, scenes of martyrdom. Below: THE PRIEST CERBANUS STEALS THE SAINT'S BODY; the doge reproaches Cerbanus. Mosaic of the chapel of S. Isidoro (1354-55) - Venice, basilica of S. Marco.

Plate XVIII Above: THE SAINT EXORCISES VALERIA AND AFRA, scenes of martyrdom. Below: THE PRIEST CERBANUS STEALS THE SAINT'S BODY; the doge reproaches Cerbanus. Mosaic of the chapel of S. Isidoro (1354-55) - Venice, basilica of S. Marco.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: Acta SS. Mai, III, Antwerp 1680, pp. 445-52; Ch. Huelsen, Le chiese di Roma nel medioevo, Florence 1927, pp. 278-79; H. Delehaye, Les origines du culte des Martyrs, 2nd ed., Brussels 1932, pp. 216, 226-27, 239, 385, 401.

A. Pietro Frutaz

@incollection{ec7_isidoro_l_agricoltore_santo, author = {Ghinato, Alberto and Frutaz, Amato Pietro}, title = {Isidoro L'Agricoltore, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {252--253}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/isidoro-l-agricoltore-santo} }

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Isidore the Farmer, Saint

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