Feast Day: May 15
Download: Saint Isidore the Farmer Worksheet
Purpose: Students will read about the life of Saint Isidore the Farmer and respond to questions.
This worksheet is one of the many biographies in The Religion Teacher’s Saints Worksheet Collection available to members here.
Saint Isidore the Farmer Biography
Saint Isidore the Farmer (1070-1130) lived his whole life as a simple laborer in Spain. Isidore was named after the great philosopher and scholar Saint Isidore of Seville, but his path to holiness was simple work rather than advanced education. He went to daily Mass every morning, toured religious sites in Madrid on the weekend, and prayed throughout the day while he worked in the fields. There are many stories of the miracles surrounding the simple life of Saint Isidore the Farmer. His fellow farmers reported him to their master for being late to work after coming from Mass each day. When the master went to confront Isidore, he saw the farmer praying while an angel ploughed the fields for him. He and his wife Maria had a young son who was once stuck in a deep well. They prayed for God’s help and the water rose high enough for them to save him. The couple was dedicated to helping those who were poorer than them. Maria kept an extra bowl of stew cooking because Isidore often brought home the poor to eat with them. Once he brought too many people to feed, and they ran out of food. Isidore asked his wife to check the bowl again and it was miraculously full. These stories spread far and wide after Isidore’s death and he was canonized as a saint nearly five hundred years later. He is the patron saint of farmers, field hands, ranchers, and all laborers.