Last month I watched a Virginia Public Media program about one of my favorite foods — Virginia Peanuts. Part of its Made in Virginia series, the program, which originally aired in 2017 (https://www.pbs.org/video/virginia-peanuts-svqh6q/), explained why the dry, sandy soil in Sussex County, the right combination of sun and rain, and generations of farmers have developed the most efficient way of growing the best peanuts.
Even before I was assigned to Richmond, I knew about Virginia Peanuts. As those interviewed explained the process for growing the peanuts, they spoke with affection not only about their product but about their connection to the earth and to farming life.
Shortly after I watched the program, I was reminded of something else about farmers and farming — that they have a patron saint named Isidore. I was more familiar with St. Isidore of Seville, a seventh century Spanish archbishop who was known for his emphasis on education.
He not only established seminaries and schools, but he compiled a Catholic encyclopedia and a dictionary. In 1997, St. Pope John Paul, recognizing the impact of St. Isidore’s scholarship, named him patron saint not of farmers, but of electronics and the internet.
The patron saint of farmers and all who work the land is another Isidore — St. Isidore the Farmer. In the late 11th and early 12th centuries, this Isidore worked the fields owned by a wealthy landowner in Madrid.
He began each day by attending Mass and then, as he walked behind the plow, he would continue to pray. What Isidore and his wife, St. Maria de la Cabeza, believed, they practiced through their service to the poor, particularly feeding the hungry.
In recent decades there has been much growth in urban and suburban regions of the Commonwealth. Nonetheless, there are still many farmers in the territory of our diocese who earn their living from the land. Among them are those who have family farms. They are people of faith — people who deal with vagaries of the weather, uncertain markets, and daunting competition from conglomerates. Yet, they continue to work the land.
While the Made in Virginia episode focused upon the peanut farmers in southeastern Virginia, there is rural life in other parts of our diocese, including along the Eastern Shore. Every summer I have an opportunity to celebrate Mass with and administer the sacrament of confirmation to migrant workers who work the fields where various fruits and vegetables are grown. It is the labor of so many like them that provides us with healthy food.
Monday, May 15, is the Memorial of St. Isidore the Farmer. Having food is something we might take for granted, rarely giving thought to the people who make it possible for us to enjoy that food. As farmers have already planted and are planting crops, this is an excellent time to express our gratitude to God for them and for all who work the land, and to pray that their harvest may be plentiful.
As part of our thanksgiving, we do well in calling to mind the words St. Pope John Paul spoke to farmers in Des Moines, Iowa, during his first visit to the United States: “To all of you who are farmers and all who are associated with agricultural production I want to say this: the Church highly esteems your work” (Oct. 4, 1979).
May we always pray for them and the work they do.