biography
| name: |
Isidro Labrador, St
|
pronunciation:
[isidroh]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (12th-c)
|
| biography:
| A peasant who farmed where Madrid now stands, and who is believed to have prayed and attended Mass so assiduously that his fields were neglected and angels descended to plough for him. He was regarded only as the local patron saint until 1598, when Philip III fell ill nearby and Madrid sent his remains to fend off the king's death. When Philip recovered, Isidro's name was honoured throughout the country, and his cult found its way into literature at once with a long poem Isidro labrador by Lope de Vega published in 1599 in five-line stanzas. There were three plays also by Lope, the first published in Vol 7 of his Comedias (1617), and the other two commissioned by the city authorities of Madrid to be acted in 1622, on Isidro's canonization in that year. |
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