May. 15 Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter; Opt. Mem. of St. Isidore (USA), Opt. Mem.
The United States celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Isidore the Farmer (1070-1130). He was a Spanish laborer who worked most of his life as a ploughman for a nobleman who lived near Madrid, Spain. Although working many hours a day, he never failed to attend daily Mass, and spend time praying before the Holy Eucharist. He married a maid-servant, Maria de la Cabeza, who was also canonized a saint. They were always willing to help their neighbors and worked with the poor in the city slums. In 1947, he was proclaimed the Patron of the Catholic Rural Life Conference in the United States.
