St Isidore the Farmer

Saint Isidore the Farmer’s real name was Isidro de Merlo y Quintana. He was born in the year 1070 AD in Madrid. His parents were poor but very devout. Isidore was a hired labourer of Juan de Vargas, a wealthy Madrilenian landowner on his farm near the city.

He was very generous and would share with the poor what he had, including his food. This made his boss, Juan de Vargas, to elevate him to the position of a bailiff of his entire estate of Lower Caramanca.

Isidore married Maria Torribia who is also known as Saint Mary de la Cabeza (Santa María de la Cabeza) in Spain.

At one time, their young son fell into a deep well and after they prayed to God the water of the well miraculously rose to ground level and brought the child with it.

Their son later died in his youth. Isidore and Maria saw as if God did not want them to have children and therefore vowed sexual abstinence, lived in separate houses but chastely for the rest of their lives, doing good works.

Miracles of Isidore the Farmer

The number of miracles attributed to Isidore has been counted as 438, but these below are the salient ones:

At one time Isidore was accused by his fellow workers that he was always late for work while attending the daily Morning Mass at a Church nearby in Madrid. He stated that he had no other choice but to follow the ultimate Master. His boss went to investigate the allegation but instead of finding Isidore in the fields ploughing, he found Angels doing the work while he was praying in Church.

Another miracle happened when his master saw angels ploughing on both of his sides. This meant that Isidore’s work was triple that of his fellow field workers.

It is also said that Isidore brought back to life the daughter of his master who had died.

He also caused, from the dry earth, a fountain of fresh water to burst thereby quenching his master’s thirst.

There was a time when going to the mill to grind the wheat, he came across a flock of wood pigeons scratching on the hard surface of the snowy ground looking for food but in vain. He felt sorry for the hungry birds and poured them half of his precious sack of wheat. The onlookers mocked him but he did not mind but when he reached the mill his bag of wheat was full and when the wheat was ground, the flour produced was double what was expected.

Maria, his wife, with the knowledge that her husband, Isidore, would bring home anyone who was hungry, would keep a pot of stew in their kitchen. One day Isidore brought a larger-than-usual number of hungry people home. Maria served several of them until she saw that the stew was no more. She went and told her husband that there was no more stew for everyone. Isidore insisted that she go and check again, and miraculously the pot was full enough for all the hungry people.

There were heavy torrential rains on April 2 1212 in Madrid which exhumed cadavers from cemeteries. His body was found intact in a state of incorruptibility.

It is also said that in 1212 AD, Isidore appeared to Alfonso VIII of Castile, and shown him the secret way by which he ambushed the Moors and took control of Las Navas de Tolosa.

After touching the relics of the Isidore, it is said that King Philip III of Spain was cured of a deadly disease. Consequently, the king replaced the old reliquary (a container for holy relics) with a costly silver one. Thereafter, he mooted Isidore’s beatification This made other members of the royal family to seek curative powers from saint Isidore throughout history

The Birdies ..a story from America (by Lloyd Glenn)

On July 22nd I was in route to Washington DC for a business trip. As I collected my belongings from the overhead bin, an announcement was made for Mr. Lloyd Glenn. When I got off the plane a solemn-faced young man came toward me and said, "Mr. Glenn there is an emergency at your home. I learned that my three- year-old son had been trapped underneath the automatic garage door for several minutes, and that when my wife had found him he was dead. CPR had been performed by a neighbour, who is a doctor, and the paramedics had continued the treatment as Brian was transported to the hospital.

Brian was revived and they believed he would live, but they did not know how much damage had been done to his brain, nor to his heart. They explained that the door had completely closed on his little sternum right over his heart. He had been severely crushed. .(he flew home then)..Finally at two o'clock that afternoon, our son regained consciousness and sat up and said, "Daddy hold me," and he reached for me with his little arms. By the next day he was pronounced as having no neurological or physical deficits, and the story of his miraculous survival spread throughout the hospital.

A month later Brian said, "Mommy. I have something to tell you." At this time in his life, Brian usually spoke in small phrases, so to say a large sentence surprised my wife. "Do you remember when I got stuck under the garage door? Well it was so heavy and it hurt really bad. I called to you, but you couldn't hear me. I started to cry, but then it hurt too bad. And then the "birdies" came. "The birdies?" my wife asked puzzled. "Yes," he replied. "The birdies" made a whooshing sound and flew into the garage. They took care of me. One of the "birdies" came and got you. She came to tell you I got stuck under the door." My wife realized that a three year-old had no concept of death and angels, so he was referring to the beings who came to him from beyond as "birdies" because they were up in the air like birds that fly. "What did the birdies look like?" she asked. Brian answered. "They were so beautiful. They were dressed in white all white. Some of them had green and white. But some of them had on just white." "Did they say anything?" "Yes" he answered. They told me the baby would be alright." "The baby?" my wife asked confused. And Brian answered. "The baby laying on the garage floor." He went on, "You came out and opened the garage door and ran to the baby. You told the baby to stay and not leave." My wife nearly collapsed upon hearing this, for she had indeed gone and knelt beside Brian's body and seeing his crushed chest and unrecognizable features, knowing he was already dead, she looked up around her and whispered, "Don't leave us Brian, please stay if you can. As she listened to Brian telling her the words she had spoken, she realized that the spirit had left his body and was looking down from above on this little lifeless form. 

"Then what happened?" she asked. "We went on a trip." he said, "far, far away.." He grew agitated trying to say the things he didn't seem to have the words for. "We flew so fast up in the air." "They're so pretty Mommy." he added. "And there is lots and lots of "birdies". Brian went on to tell her that the 'birdies' had told him that he had to come back and tell everyone about the "birdies". He said they brought him back to the house and that a big fire truck, and an ambulance were there. A man was bringing the baby out on a white bed and he tried to tell the man the baby would be okay, but the man couldn't hear him. He said, "birdies told him he had to go with the ambulance, but they would be near him. He said, they were so pretty and so peaceful, and he didn't want to come back. And then the bright light came. He said that the light was so bright and so warm, and he loved the bright light so much. Someone was in the bright light and put their arms around him, and told him, "I love you but you have to go back. You have to play baseball, and tell everyone about the birdies." Then the person in the bright light kissed him and waved bye-bye. Then whoosh, the big sound came and they went into the clouds." 

The story went on for an hour. He taught us that "birdies" were always with us, but we don't see them because we look with our eyes and we don't hear them because we listen with our ears. But they are always there, you can only see them in here (he put his hand over his heart). They whisper the things to help us to do what is right because they love us so much. Brian continued, stating, "I have a plan, Mommy. You have a plan. Daddy has a plan. Everyone has a plan. We must all live our plan and keep our promises. The "birdies help us to do that cause they love us so much."

House of Joy

I have always admired the work of Mother Teresa and the missionaries of charity in reaching out to abandoned children and elderly and my wife and I visited one of their houses in Manila just before we got married; at that time just to drop off a few supplies of baby milk and medicines. It was almost 20 years later before we visited again but this time I came to appreciate it in an entirely different way.

As we entered I noticed an array of coffins lined-up against the wall outside the carpenters shed, and during the Mass there was an occupied one in the chapel too. But as the day unfolded and we met with many of the residents it became apparent that it was by no means a gloomy place.

We visited two teenage girls both bedridden with badly deformed limbs and unable to speak; but when my wife started to sing to them their faces lit up with beautiful smiles. It was as if light beamed out of them. A pure light, emanating from pure souls as they delighted in the hymns being sung. It was like the two of them were lamps placed at the foot of God’s throne, burning brightly as they lay there interceding, through the sufferings of their short lives, for us sinners.

Next we met an old lady, an 83 year old with a skeletal appearance, almost weightless. She was full of joy also and loved to talk and pray with us. Such a strong spirit and another beautiful (toothless) smile. Like all the residents she has nothing and no one in the world and spends her time in prayer and preparation to meet her God and be reunited with her husband and son who had gone on ahead of her.

Through the love of the missionary sisters the tragic circumstances of the lives of the residents meet the majesty of God and although time is short I believe that each one receives what they need before they die.

For visitors too the place is a great blessing. It gives you a more realistic perspective of your own troubles and a clearer understanding of what is really important in life.

The Angel's prayer..a story from Fatima

One day in the autumn of 1916, the shepherds of Fatima took their herd out to graze. After their meal, they went to pray precisely where the Angel appeared to them the first time. While they recited the prayer that the Angel had taught them (My God, I believe, I adore, and I love You! I beg pardon of You for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You!),their faces to the ground, a light appeared above their heads.
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The children saw the Angel again who this time held a chalice in his left hand; the Host rested above it with drops of Blood dripping down into the chalice. Leaving the chalice and the Host suspended in the air, the Angel prostrated himself on the ground next to the children and repeated this prayer three times: "Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly and offer You the most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the earth, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And through the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners."

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Then standing up, the Angel took the chalice and the Host into his hands and gave Holy Communion to Lucy, and the Blood of the chalice to Jacinta and Francisco, saying: "Take and drink the Body and the Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make up for all their crimes and console your God." He then prostrated himself one last time with the children and repeated the prayer to the Holy Trinity (above) three times. The three small visionaries kept strict silence about the apparitions of the Angel. Why did they behave this way? Sister Lucy stated later: "...because of the painful experience of the apparition of 1915."