Born in Madrid to a poor family in the early twelfth century, San
Ysidro Labrador was an uneducated farm laborer for most of his life.
Deeply devout, he dressed as a hermit, prayed regularly and gave
everything he had to the poor. As an industrious farmer, he worked on
Sundays despite the Lord's cautioning him, threatening and
materializing a plague of grasshoppers and torrential rain on his
farm. Saint Isidore continued to work on Sundays until the Lord
threatened him a third time with "bad neighbors", and then he finally
consented to observe the Sabbath. Because of the large amount of work
he had to do, the Lord sent an angel down to plow the fields for the
saint.
In retablos, Saint Isidore the Farmer is surrealistically shown much
larger than the angel and cattle in his fields. While the angel
plows, Saint Isidore prays. Sometimes, the angel appears with one set
of small oxen while Saint Isidore appears with one his own size.
Often a church in the background completes the illustration of the
saint's tale.
Saint Isidore the Farmer is invoked for the concerns affecting
livestock, agriculture, and good weather and is even invoked for
picnics.