The mummified remains of San Isidro, the popular patron saint of Madrid and a handful of Spanish cities, are on public display for the first time in four decades to celebrate the fourth centenary of his canonization and his jubilee year
San Isidro was born about 1082 in Magerit, Moorish Madrid, then a village, and reported life 850 years ago in 1172. The peasant, today the patron saint of the city and court and of the peasants, was buried. But the earth was good to him and his body remains untouched. The saint’s mummy, which had not been on public display for 37 years, is on display this May Iridril to mark the 400th anniversary of the canonization of the humble Mozarab peasant and dowser, the first of a married layman to perform miraculous miracles .
To see his remains, you must visit the Royal Collegiate Church of San Isidro between 21 and 29 days. Although the saint’s tomb there can be visited at any time, seeing his intact remains is something exceptional as they were exhibited for the last time in 1985 “It is now the fourth centenary of the canonization and the holy jubilee year of San Isidro, and the exhibition was almost mandatory,” acknowledges Luis Manuel Velasco, president of the Congregation of San Isidro and keeper of the remains. To avoid risk, they are displayed protected with thick bulletproof methacrylate, with on-site security cameras and police custody.
The life of the popular and traditional saint is told in the Codex of Juan Deácono, discovered in 1504 and preserved in the Cathedral of Almudena. He tells about his five miracles in life. Among them, how he tore a sack of wheat to feed the birds which the snow prevented from eating, and when he came home he found the sack intact and full; how Iván de Vargas, his master, saw that the oxen plowed alone while Isidro prayed, or how where his hermitage now stands, he caused a spring to spring whose water is drunk with devotion by chulapos dressed in waistcoats and parpusas and chulapas with manila- scarves, handkerchiefs and carnation.
The patron saint of Madrid is a highly revered saint with over 500 brotherhoods, and not just in his hometown. He is also the patron saint of Villar del Olmo and Morata de Tajuña (Madrid), Cartaya and Rosal de la Frontera (Huelva), Los Barrios and Tahivilla (Cádiz), La Orotava (Tenerife), Alfajarín (Zaragoza), Talavera de la Reina (Toledo).), Montellano (Seville), Estepona (Málaga), La Malahá (Granada), Labros (Guadalajara), Villar de Cañas (Cuenca) and S’Horta (Mallorca). In Buenos Aires there is a cathedral dedicated to San Isidro Labrador and in Mexico, Honduras and the Philippines the cult of the miracle worker is deeply rooted.
The body of San Isidro, which has been under constant pressure during these eight centuries, has been preserved in three coffins. The interior, the ‘old ark’, physically contains the remains and was built between the 13th and 14th centuries. The second was a gift from the silversmiths of Madrid in 1622, the year of the beatification. Queen Mariana of Neoburg, wife of Charles II, donated another silver urn in 1692, in thanks to the saint for her miraculous healing. Among this treasury are the remains of Isidro’s wife, María Toribia, Santa María de la Cabeza, who are not unscathed.
Originally buried outside the primitive church of San Andrés, four decades later the saint’s remains were moved to a mausoleum in the temple. Then it was discovered that the body was incorruptible, which increased the halo of holiness. The Vargas family managed to transfer the mummy to the episcopal chapel in the 16th century, where it remained for another 25 years. It then returned to a tomb next to the main altar in San Andrés, but the parish collapsed in 1656 and the coffin returned to the episcopal chapel. In 1690 it returned to the new chapel of San Isidro and a century later, at the request of Carlos III, to the Collegiate Church, where it has rested since 1769.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
