St. Isidore the Farmer

St. Isidore the Farmer

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Isidore the Farmer.

He was born in Madrid, Spain during the 2nd half of the 12th century. When he was young, he was hired by John de Vergas, a rather wealthy man, to work on his estate outside of the city. While there he married his wife, St. Marie de la Cabeza, and also had a child whom died still a child.

St. Isidore was an extremely devout religious man. He would get up in the mornings to go to church and even used his holidays from working to go to famous churches across Madrid. Even during his task of working as a farmer, he always prayed to God. His dedication towards God was so great that he often showed up late because of lingering at church for a long time. It is also said that he received many visions and that angels would help him during his work in the fields. He was also known to be a miracle worker in that he gave a miraculous amount of food to the poor. He also good with animals due to his time on the farm.

He died on May 15, 1130 which is why his feast day is today. Something interesting too is that he was canonized in the year of 1622 along with St. Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier. Due to his work he is the patron saint of farmers, Madrid, and even the United States National Rural Life Conference.

St. Ignatius of Laconi

St. Ignatius of Laconi

St. Ignatius of Laconi was born to a family of poor farmers in Laconi, Italy on December 17, 1701. Around the age of seventeen, he grew very ill to the point where he promised he would become a Franciscan if he became healed. After his malady disappeared, his father convinced him to wait. A few years after that, he almost died when he lost control of his horse until strangely it stopped and trotted on peacefully. This was a sign to Ignatius that this was divine intervention from God that saved him. Immediately following he fulfilled his promise of joining the Franciscans.

As a Franciscan brother, he did not stand out. Fifteen years of life went past while he worked in the weaving shed. After that, for forty years he became part of the order that was responsible for asking the people for donations for upkeep of the friars. It was during this time that people started growing attached to him. Ignatius comforted the sick and gave happiness towards the lonely. He was able to convert many men and offered terrific advice to those in sin. The people were so attached that they would wait for his visits.

This did not mean that there were always good days. Some people would reject him by slamming the door on him. Sometimes the weather was bad. There were miles of road to walk through everyday too. Through all this turmoil he persevered. However, there was one house that he would always skip. It was the house of a rich moneylender who made the poor return more money than they had. When this man told Ignatius's superior about this, the superior tasked him to go to the moneylender's house. He did not speak but followed. When he returned with a bag of food, God performed a miracle. The bag, when it was emptied, let loose blood dripping out. "This is the blood of the poor," Ignatius said. This led to all the friars to pray for the conversion of this moneylender's soul.

Ignatius died on the on May 11, 1781 at the age of 80. Pope Pius XII  canonized him as a saint in the year 1951.

Saint Juan Diego

Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin or Juan Diego (July 12, 1474–May 30, 1548) was a 16th century indigenous Native American from Mexico who said he saw a Marian apparition in 1531 now known as Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as Virgen de Guadalupe. The apparition has had a significant impact on the spread of the Catholic faith within Mexico. The Catholic Church canonized him in 2002 as its first indigenous American saint.

Altar Basilica of Lady Guadalupe

News of the apparition on Tepayac Hill spread quickly through Mexico; and in the seven years that followed, 1532 through 1538, the Indian people accepted the Spaniards and 8 million people were converted to the Catholic faith. According to Daniel Lynch, director of the Apostolate of the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, "An amazing thing happened. Indians became reconciled to Spaniards. And we had a new race of people. Mixed blood. We called them "Mestizos". Our Lady of Guadalupe had appeared as a Mestiza. They call her the dark virgin, the little brown one.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, as the Virgin Mary came to be known in this context, still underpins the faith of many Catholics in Mexico and the rest of Latin America, and she is recognized as patron saint of all the Americas. Interestingly, the years 1532 to 1538, which saw a large number of people join the Catholic Church in Mexico based on Juan Diego's vision, were right in the midst of the period of Protestant Reformation in Europe. Hence, as a large number of people left the Catholic Church in Europe, a large number of new Catholics appeared in Mexico, maintaining the overall strength of the Catholic Church. To this day, Latin America remains a major pillar of the Catholic Church.

Juan Diego was canonized by Pope John Paul II on July 31, 2002. Pope John Paul II praised Juan Diego for his simple faith nourished by catechesis and pictured him (who said to the Blessed Virgin Mary: "I am a nobody, I am a small rope, a tiny ladder, the tail end, a leaf") as a model of humility.

"I am a nobody, I am a small rope, a tiny ladder, the tail end, a leaf" -Juan Diego