Isidore the Laborer
Spanish farmer and saint
Isidore the Laborer, born Isidro de Merlo y Quintana, also known as Isidore the Farmer (Spanish: San Isidro Labrador) (c. 1070 – 15 May 1130), was a Mozarab farmworker who lived in medieval Madrid. Known for his piety toward the poor and animals, he is venerated as a Catholic patron saint of farmers, and of Madrid; El Gobernador, Jalisco; Condiro Jalisco, La Ceiba, Honduras; and of Tocoa, Honduras. His feast day is celebrated on 15 May.
The Spanish profession name labrador comes from the verb labrar ("to till", "to plow" or, in a broader sense, "to work the land"). Hence, to refer to him as simply a "laborer" is a poor translation of the Spanish labrador as it makes no reference to the essential farming aspect of his work and his identity.
Biography
Isidore was born in Madrid around 1070 or 1082 to poor, devout parents and was christened Isidore after the name of their patron, St. Isidore of Seville.
In 1083 or 1085, the troops of Alfonso VI of León and Castile conquered Madrid from the Muslim taifa of Toledo.
Isidore spent his life as a hired hand in the service of the wealthy Madrilenian landowner, Juan de Vargas, on a farm in the city's vicinity. He shared what he had, even his meals, with the poor.
“Isidore the Laborer” enters the record as spanish farmer and saint. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Isidore, Laborer and Spanish can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q379685. VIAF identifies the subject as 64800768. The Library of Congress control number is n85055535. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1070, 1130, 1082 and 1083.
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This entry incorporates text from “Isidore the Laborer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.