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 Aerogramme 2022: First Group Canonization On March 10, 2022, Vatican City issued its annual aerogramme commemorating the 400th anniversary of the first group canonization. It commemorated the events of March 12, 1622, when Pope Gregory XV canonized five new Saints: Isidore, a farmer from Madrid devoted to charity and prayer, Teresa of Avila, a Carmelite Sister, Philip Neri, the founder of the Oratory bearing his name, Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), and Francis Xavier, a second Jesuit father. Of the five Saints canonized on that day, Saint Isidore the Farmer may be the least well known. Born in 1070, at a young age he entered the service of a wealthy landowner from Madrid and worked faithfully on his estate outside the city. He displayed deep religious instincts, rose early each day to go to church, and spent much time visiting the churches of Madrid and surrounding areas. He was known to pray as he worked the fields, and his devotion reached a point where his fellow workers complained that he often showed up late because of lingering in church too long. However, Isidore was known for his love of the poor, and there are accounts of him supplying them miraculously with food and water. He is often depicted with a staff which, according to accounts, he would strike on the ground to produce water. Saint Isidore the Farmer died May 15, 1130. He has become the patron of farmers and rural laborers, as well as the patron of Madrid, Spain. REFERENCES: |
