San Isidro Labrador Day
On May 15 , as every year, the day of San Isidro, patron saint of Madrid and patron saint of peasants and farmers , is celebrated. San Isidro was a man dedicated to the countryside and its cultivation, endowed with great generosity and humility. His life was long and full of miraculous events, most of them related to fountains, springs and water.
San Isidro is one of the religious images that arouses the greatest devotion in Spain. Others such as the Virgen del Pilar , the Virgen del Carmen , the Immaculate Conception have, in the same way, a great recognition among the faithful.
Life of San Isidro Labrador, patron saint of Madrid
San Isidro, whose name was Isidro de Merlo y Quintana was born in the city of Madrid. He was born into a family of farmers. He followed in the footsteps of his parents by dedicating himself to the land and its cultivation.
San Isidro was born in the year 1075, being King Alfonso el Bravo, King of Castile, León and Galicia. His life will be long and full of miraculous events, thereby earning him great devotion from his contemporaries. His great Christian charity and a humble life dedicated to cultivating the land made him worthy of being the patron saint of peasants, farmers and of his hometown, Madrid. Being his festivity on May 15.
It is believed that he was baptized in the parish of San Andrés. His childhood years were spent in Madrid as a regular at Nuestra Señora de la Almudena . Reaching adolescence, he moved to Torrelaguna, a town near the town of Madrid. Place where he will meet his future wife María de la Piedad , who is also venerated as Santa María de la Cabeza.
It begins at this time to earn a name as a great dowser. Starting his relationship with springs and fountains, a constant throughout his life.
Around the year 1109, San Isidro, already married to María de la Piedad, moved back to Madrid at the request of Don Iván de Vargas, a gentleman from Madrid with large possessions.
After many years of service, San Isidro dies in his house in Madrid almost ninety years old.
After the death of San Isidro, his incorrupt body rested in different places. In the first instance, the remains of the Saint rest in the Church of San Andrés. In the fifteenth century, a chapel dedicated to San Isidro is built in Madrid and his body is buried there. Finally it is transferred to the Royal Church of San Isidro in Madrid where he currently rests.
Miracles of San Isidro Labrador, Patron Saint of Madrid
The miracles attributed to San Isidro are numbers. Most linked to fountains and springs.
One of the most prominent occurs during a year of great drought. San Isidro, fearing for his lord's crops, took a hazadón and hit the ground with great force. The resulting hole began to sprout water with such intensity that, it is said, it served to supply crops throughout Madrid. This spring was also where King Felipe III was cured of a very serious illness he had contracted.
The story goes that because of his great work on earth, many of his neighbors tried to slander him before his lord. Don Iván de Vargas, went to the lands where San Isidro worked. San Isidro cultivated the land without rest, except for brief periods of time that he dedicated to his prayers. Even in these moments of prayer, the oxen were still plowing the land led by angels from heaven.
He is also well known for his inexhaustible charity and great love for nature. Virtues that are demonstrated in facts such as sowing wheat, he tried to throw some grains of seed out of the furrow so that insects and birds could eat, "For all his Divine Majesty."
Beatification, canonization and celebrations of San Isidro Labrador
Saint Isidore was beatified by Paul V on June 14, 1619, and canonized on March 12, 1622, by Gregory XV . The bull of canonization was not published until 1724 by Benedict XIII. May 15 is his feast day since it was on this day that all the people of Madrid learned that San Isidro had been beatified.
Every year Madrid celebrates a festival around the hermitage erected in his honor in the Pradera de San Isidro, next to the Manzanares River in the District of Carabanchel . Since 1947, one of the most important bullfights in the world, the San Isidro Fair, has also been held in his honor.
Madrid does not have the exclusivity of the celebrations related to San Isidro. Due to their love of the land and great humility, there are numerous Spanish towns that celebrate the day of San Isidro with great solemnity: Los Realejos, Yecla, Dueñas, etc…
More information about other Saints .