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<img height='300' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/A60.jpg'> 
First Group Canonization 
Aerogramme 2022</center>
 
On March 10, 2022, Vatican City issued its annual aerogramme commemorating the 400th anniversary of the first group canonization, which took place on March 12, 1622, at Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. On that day, 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 founder.
 
Initially, the canonization ceremony was to honor Isidore alone. However, in January 1622, the process for the canonization of the other four "blesseds" was almost concluded. The Congregation of Rites thus decided to celebrate a multiple canonization. This was the first ceremony in the history of the Congregation, established in 1588, which involved the canonization of multiple saints.
 
The ceremony was significant, given the nature of the event and the notoriety of the five Saints honored. For that reason, Vatican City released its aerogramme for 2022 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of this group canonization. The illustration of the aerogramme reproduces the detail of a painting commissioned by Antonio Antonacci about ten years after the canonization. The work is by an unknown artist and depicts the five Saints at the bottom of the painting. The work is preserved at the church of the Convent of Santa Maria di Loreto in Toro. The postal indicia for the aerogramme is one side of the medal coined for the event, which characterized the second year of the pontificate of Pope Gregory XV. A detail of the indicia is shown below:
 
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<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/A60A.jpg'> 
Postal Indicia 
Aerogram 2022</center>
 
<center>The New Saints</center>
 
As mentioned above, four of the saints canonized at the ceremony are fairly well known and have been honored on stamp of Vatican City. Here are stamps picturing these saints:
 
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<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1605.jpg' > 
<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1323.jpg' >
<img height='225' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1324.jpg' > 
Saint Philip Neri and Saint Teresa of Avila (Scott 1605, 2015) 
Saints Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier (Scott 1323-1324, 2006)</center>
 
<center>Saint Isidore the Farmer</center>
 
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<img height='375' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Saint_Isidore_Catholic_Church_%28Bloomingdale%2C_Illinois%29_-_St._Isidore_the_Farmer_statue.jpg'> 
Saint Isidore the Farmer 
 Saint Isidore Catholic Church (Bloomingdale, Illinois) 
Photo by Nheyob 
From Wikimedia Commons, used under the terms of the Creative 
Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license</center>
 
The fifth saint canonized in 1622 is perhaps the least well-known, and has not previously appeared on a stamp or postal item issued by Vatican City. Saint Isidore of the Farmer (or Isidore the Laborer) was born Isidro de Merlo y Quintana in Madrid, Spain, around the year 1070. He was named after Saint Isidore of Seville, the seventh-century scholar, theologian, and Doctor of the Church. At a young age, Isidore entered the service of a wealthy landowner 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.
 
The feast day for Saint Isidore the Farmer is celebrated on May 15, the anniversary of his death in 1130. He is widely venerated, and is the patron of farmers and rural laborers, as well as the patron of Madrid, Spain. Two locales in the United States named in his honor are San Ysidro, California, and San Ysidro, New Mexico.
 
REFERENCES: 
<li>PosteVatican.va, <a href='https://www.postevaticane.va/en/philatelic-issues/6-2022/70'>IV Centenary of the First Collective Canonization</a> 
<li>Wilkipedia, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isidore_the_Laborer'>Isidore the Laborer</a> 
<li>Greg Pirozzi, Vatican Notes, Volume 70. Number 392, pp. 4-6, 2022, <a href='https://www.vaticanstamps.org/vaticannotes/idisplay.php?p=70-392-04-05&r=4'>Vatican City New Issues: February 2022</a> 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database search

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