St. Isidore the Farmer, Bishop, Doctor of the Church, A.D. 606.
by VP
Posted on Saturday October 25, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
Saint Isidor Farmer
"He was born in Spain, and having qualified himself by virtue and learning for the service of the Church, assisted his brother St. Leander, archbishop of Seville, in the conversion of the Visigoths, from the Arian heresy. After the death of his brother, he was, much against his will, chosen to succeed him His election was confirmed by St. Gregory the Great, who also appointed him his Apostolic Vicar over the whole of Spain.
In his episcopal career it is incredible how constant, humble, and patient he was; as well as solicitous for keeping up Christian and ecclesiastical discipline. Indeed he was eminent in all virtue; and distinguished also for great learning, and a general acquaintance with ancient writers, both sacred and profane. He was a great promoter and encourager of monastic institutions throughout Spain; and built several monasteries and colleges. He compiled many useful works, in which he takes in the whole circle of the sciences; and many portions of his writings were embodied in the canon law of the Church.
When St. Isidore was almost fourscore years old, though age and fatigues had undermined and broken his health, he never interrupted his usual exercises and labours. During the last six months of his life, he increased his charities with such profusion, that the poor of the whole country crowded his house from morning till night. Perceiving his end to draw near, he entreated two bishops to come to see him. With them he went to the church, where one of them covered him with sackcloth, and the other put ashes on his head. Clothed with the habit of penance, he stretched his hands towards heaven, prayed with great earnestness, and begged aloud the pardon of his sins. He then received from the hands of the bishops the body and blood of our Lord, recommended himself to the prayers of all that were present, remitted the bonds of all his debtors, exhorted the, people to charity, and caused all the money which he had not as yet disposed of to be distributed among the poor. This done, he returned to his own house, and calmly departed this life four days after, on the 4th of April, in the year 636.
His memory was held in such veneration, that the eighth Council of Toledo, fourteen years after his death, styles him "The excellent Doctor, the late ornament of the Catholic Church, the most learned man, given to enlighten the latter ages, always to be named with reverence." Give thanks to Almighty God, for his wonderful graces to this his servant, and beg a like mercy on all the present pastors of the Church. Pray likewise for yourself and the whole flock, that God would render us a holy and acceptable people, well-pleasing in his sight." The Catholic Year by Rev. John Gother
Prayer in Honor of Saint Isidore the Farmer
O God, who taught Adam the simple art of tilling the soil, and who
through Jesus Christ, the true vine, revealed yourself the husbandman of
our souls, deign, we pray, through the merits of blessed Isidore, to
instill into our hearts a horror of sin and a love of prayer, so that,
working the soil in the sweat of our brow, we may enjoy eternal
happiness in heaven, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. (St. Isidore's Garden)
AN ODE TO ST. ISIDORE.
(St. Isidore, Patron of Madrid, was an humble laborer who sanctified himself in the midst of his daily toils. While his hand guided the plough, his heart communed with God and His holy Angels. The various aspects of nature gave him continual food for divine contemplation.)
Wake not the golden stringed lyres,
Let their rich music sleep;
Be still, be still, ye human choirs,
Ye lutes a silence keep;
For birds snowy wing and breast,
And scented winds among the trees,
And wells that in deep valleys rest,
And sunlit streams that gild the leas,
Will claim their right for evermore
To sing pure-soul'd Isidore,
There comes a voice from hidden lakes,
Softer than Summer's breeze,
There swells a hum by lonely brakes,
Like music on the seas.
The tempest-breath shakes mountain-peak,
And 'mong the rocks makes melody;
The birds through all the forests speak
In tones of richest harmony;
And all in measured numbers pour
The praises of St. Isidore.
Teach us, meek Saint, we humbly pray,
The Lord in all to view,
His steps to trace in meadows gay,
And in the heavens blue;
To read His Beauty in each flower
That we espy in cultured dell,
To know what is the awful power
That bound the vale by rocky fell;
May all in Nature we explore
Lead us to God and Isidore.
(Irish Scholars of the Penal Days: Glimpses of Their Labors on the Continent by Rev. William P. Treacy, 1889)
SS. Crispin and Crispinian
by VP
Posted on Saturday October 25, 2025 at 12:00AM in Saints
SS. Crispin and Crispinian, pd
"The sanctification of Labor .
-Labor is regarded by men in general as a thing of penance; for the greater number it is a matter of pure necessity, and to many has proved the powerful means of procuring sanctification. Hence it was that SS. Crispin and Crispinian, who accompanied St. Quentin to Gaul to preach the Gospel there, labored with their hands, although of noble and illustrious lineage, to support themselves, after the manner of St. Paul, thereby to avoid burthening the faithful and to enable them to contribute by their earnings to the maintenance of the poor. They took up their abode at Soissons, and occupied their vacant hours in making and repairing shoes. Having been denounced in 287 to Maximian Hercules, they were by his order transferred to the tribunal of the prefect Rictius Varus, the most inveterate enemy of the Christians. The prefect vainly employed in turn all the devices of persuasion, threats, and tortures to induce them to renounce Christianity; being unable to overcome them, he condemned them to be beheaded. They are held in great veneration throughout France, or rather through the Church at large, and their names are met with in the most ancient martyrologies.
MORAL REFLECTION.-Of how many may it be said that "they labor in vain," since God is not the end and purpose that inspires the labor!-(Wisd. iii. 2.)
Source: Pictorial half hours with the saints. by Rev. Fr. Auguste François Lecanu
