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Image 1 of 1: Saint Isidore the Laborer, unknown Peruvian painter, c. 1850, Lowe Art Museum

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St. Isidore the Husbandman

Isidore the Husbandman was laborer, husband, and man of prayer. His life shows that ordinary work, poverty, and charity can become a true path of sanctity.

Sources

The life below remains the existing Butler-based reading, with its edition citation. The profile preserves the feast date and source title already listed in the library. Additional personal dates and historical details are shown only when separately documented.

Birthplace: Near Madrid, Spain
The source places his birth near Madrid.

Butler sourceButler's Lives of the Saints, Volume II (April-May-June), May 15, St Isidore the Husbandman, Christian Classics 1990.

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1910)Michael Ott, St. Isidore the Labourer, The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIII, Robert Appleton Company, 1910. Modern transcription of the original article.

The reading

ⓘ Butler source

Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume II (April-May-June), May 15, St Isidore the Husbandman, Christian Classics 1990.

Isidore is one of the saints who make ordinary labor look luminous. He was not monk, scholar, bishop, or prince, but a working farmer near Madrid, faithful in his duties, constant in prayer, and generous to the poor. The life is simple in exactly the right way. Isidore's sanctity is not separated from his daily work.

He prayed while laboring, trusted Providence in want, and was remembered for kindness as much as for miracle. The legends that gathered around him are affectionate, but the center is steadier: a layman who sanctified common life without needing to escape it. That makes him one of the most appealing figures of holiness in the world.

Historical note

This life uses St. Isidore the Husbandman because Butler gives him the strongest clear life on the date.

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