Happy Monday! We're back for another full week of saintly action and we kick things off with with the long-anticipated agricultural anarchy as Isidore the Farmer faces off against Phocas the Gardener. [insert comment about reaping what you sow]
In case you forgot about Friday's matchup, Michael the Archangel defeated Anna the Prophet 53% to 47% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen where he'll face Esther.
Finally, in the shout-out department, we're pleased to share an article titled St. Albans Participates in Lent Madness that appeared in the Eureka-Times Standard. Congrats to the Rev. Nancy Streufert and the folks at St. Alban's Church in Acarta, California! Lent Madness is HUGE in the Redwood forest.
Isidore the Farmer
Isidore was a prodigious farmer who credited the wealth of his harvests to angels who worked by his side. Born in Madrid, Spain, in about 1070, Isidore was a poor laborer for Juan de Vargas, a wealthy landowner. While Isidore spent his life working the land for others, he was always generous, sharing all he had with the poor.
Saintly lore tells us that Isidore is credited with more than 400 miracles. In addition to bringing an abundance of agricultural bounty for the de Vargas family, Isidore also is said to have brought de Vargas’s daughter back to life.
Another story tells of a beggar who arrived at Isidore’s home seeking food. Isidore’s wife, Maria, told the beggar that there was no more stew in the pot. As the beggar turned away, Isidore called out to his wife to check again. On further inspection, the pot of stew miraculously refilled. Legend also recalls that after Isidore and Maria’s only son fell into a well, Isidore prayed that the waters would rise and his son would be saved. The waters responded to his prayers, and Isidore’s son was rescued from drowning.
According to another legend, fellow farmhands complained that Isidore was always late for work because he went to worship first. The master investigated and found an angel plowing the field while Isidore was praying.
The story of Isidore the Farmer teaches us about the holiness of hard work and the value of labor. Through Isidore’s witness, we see that real abundance is not found through monetary wealth; dignity and holiness can be discovered in an ordinary life dedicated to God. Through our labors, we can also find a relationship with God as the toil of our hands takes care of our fellow humans.
According to legend, a flood nearly one hundred years after Isidore’s death uncovered his body, which was found to be in a state of incorruptibility, meaning it had not undergone normal decomposition. The church has viewed incorruptibility of the body as a sign of sainthood. Isidore the Farmer, the patron saint of farmers and laborers, is celebrated on May 15.
Collect for Isidore the Farmer
God of harrow and harvest: Look with favor upon us as we work wholeheartedly in our ministries that we, like our brother Isidore, might plow alongside unseen angels, find our dinner tables laden with enough to share, and joyfully work toward making your kingdom come on earth; we pray this in the name of the Great Sower of Seeds, Jesus Christ, your son. Amen.
Phocas the Gardener
While our spiritual imagination may draw us to Eden or Gethsemane when we think of gardens, it is quite possible that the small garden of Phocas best illustrates the call to self-sacrificing love given to disciples of Jesus.
Phocas’s garden was part of his first-century, modest, hermetic life outside the gates of Sinope, a town on the southern coast of the Black Sea. The garden was Phocas’s livelihood and his ministry. He lived by selling produce, while also using the garden’s abundance to feed the needy and hungry. At the heart of Phocas’s generosity was his Christian faith, which he sought to share with others just as fully as he shared food from his garden and resting places in his home.
During the Diocletian Persecution, Phocas’s acts of generosity drew scrutiny from the authorities. Soldiers were sent with orders to kill him. Arriving at Sinope, they found the city gates closed. Seeking lodging, they ultimately came to the hermit’s home, where they asked for his assistance in tracking down their target. Without revealing his name, Phocas did for the soldiers what he did for all guests: he received them, fed them from his garden, and gave them shelter in which to sleep in his home. He promised to lead them to the man they sought in the morning.
As they slept, Phocas dug a grave for his burial in the midst of the garden and made arrangements for the distribution of his goods to the poor. In the morning, Phocas revealed his identity and charged the soldiers to fulfill their duty. The soldiers, shocked by the act of hospitality shown by the one they were charged with killing, begged Phocas to recant his beliefs, allowing them to report a fruitless search. It was only when Phocas proclaimed that it was an honor to share in the sufferings of Jesus that the soldiers carried out their charge. Phocas was buried in the midst of his own garden, the place where he had provided unremitting hospitality to friend and enemy alike.
Collect for Phocas the Gardener
Almighty God, you emptied yourself to take on the form of a servant, and you call your disciples to do the same. Kindle in our hearts the same love you bestowed upon Phocas the Gardener, that, in giving of our abundance to serve friend and enemy alike, we may reflect to the world around us the abundant generosity you show to us in your Son Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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166 comments on “Isidore the Farmer vs. Phocas the Gardener”
That whole Diocletian thing! Undoubtedly he was a bad guy, but the Christians didn't come out looking so good either after defacing lovely artworks in his palace. Just one of many precursors to our current polarization, it gives me perspective when I think our 21st century problems are a new low in civilization.
That whole Diocletian thing! Undoubtedly he was a bad guy, but the Christians didn't come out looking so good either after defacing lovely artworks in his palace. Just one of many precursors to our current polarization, it gives me perspective when I think our 21st century problems are a new low in civilization.
The centuries of difference between Diocletian and Phocas is puzzling. But the Lent Madness writer is certainly not alone in confusion, it seems to be rampant in the Internet machine.
And here I thought Lowe Income was such a COOL and punny name.
Glad to see you back!
Thank you — glad to be back. My housemate and I had a great week in Georgia at a seminar with our favorite biblical archeaologist. . Got back in time to see the snow blow horizontally all day Friday.
sorry — archeologist
I like that!!
As an only child, I was expected to learn and do chores usually done by boys as well as girls. I don't really like gardening very much, but I do love watching plants grow. I had trouble deciding, but finally am going with Isadore, who prayed first, then labored, and shared the bounty given by God and the angels with those who needed it.
Has Oliver not weighed in yet?
Voting for Isidore although it was a tough choice. I grew up on a small farm in the west and my dad worked very hard to grow vegetables that he could sell to neighbors. When I think how pleased he would have been (and not necessarily surprised) to have angels plow his fields, I had to go with Isidore.
It was difficult for the disciples to remain with Jesus through his trials. It is even more difficult for us. Phocus did the opposite and chose o join Jesus in death.
You got me with this line:
"Phocas proclaimed that it was an honor to share in the sufferings of Jesus that the soldiers carried out their charge. Phocas was buried in the midst of his own garden, the place where he had provided unremitting hospitality to friend and enemy alike."
Christian witness!!
I am glad to get to know these saints. I went for Phocas with hospitality that was a witness to the Gospel.
These two people exemplify the same idea.
I couldn't choose...
Coming from farming stock (think 10,000 white leghorns) and gardening stock (brother's garden had to be seen to be believed), in the end I had to go for the farmer who kept the home fires burning while feeding workers during World War II.
Isidore the Farmer reminds me of Theodore my Father.
I voted for Phocas because of his powerful witness, but I've always had a soft spot for Isidore. I grew up in the Southwest, where there is a great devotion to San Ysidro.
Such a tough choice! But as the Chair of our Flower/Garden Committee at The Church of the Presidents in Quincy MA aka United First Parish Church (Unitarian Universalist), I will have to vote for Phocas. It inspires me to research the protocols/zoning rules for our members to bury their ashes in our church gardens. I spend so many happy hours there already!
If Isadore is good enough for the angels, he gets my vote.
In honor of St. Isidore Episcopal Mission of The Woodlands, TX, and the Abundant Harvest Food Truck which in being #offensivelygenerous in their less than two years of existence have washed and dried over 12,630 loads of laundry, served over 17,475 meals, and shared over 78,500 pounds of food while being I cast my vote for St. Isidore.
Used to worship at a church on San Ysidro Road: have to vote for Isidore
Had to go with Isidore... and the holiness of a basic labor life...
Re:Phocas, I genuinely loved his story, but at its ending found myself thinking of a learning and teaching of the early church, when they had to explain to young people rushing to be martyred, that martyrdom was not something to be actively sought.... that is might occur, but the path was to live if possible. St.Thomas More... the "man for all seasons" makes that same point in the play of that name, when his jailers bring him repeated papers to sign.... trying to trap him... and he says in essence, that if he can find a way to sign with integrity, he will... because his duty is to live for the Lord... but if he can't sign with integrity, then he will likewise accept the necessity of his death.
"Live if possible." That sounds like a sound and healthy duty for a creature of God. I second it.
I voted for Phocas because (at least from the material in the accounts provided on this site) his story was not all inflated by the sort of legendary miracles that set up saintly heroes as so favored by magical powers that there's little left for us ordinary folks to emulate.
Stories of saints like the account of Isidore here, posit a world where good people get all kinds of help from angels and from God himself, while the evil and ill-intentioned, or just the people who challenge Our Hero, get humiliated or punished. That's not what the world is really like, so, again, it's hard to see such saints as models for our lives. Rather, they seem like mascot-like heroes that just lead us to say YAY OUR TEAM.
Phocas’s Wikipedia article reveals that at the moment of his martyrdom the sky turned to gold and the words “ALL RIGHT” miraculously appeared in the heavens. For what further sign could one ask?
Blessed are they who have not seen and yet believed, but if you require proof you will find it at
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Phocas_the_Gardener_of_Sinope_%28Menologion_of_Basil_II%29.jpg .
Hocus pocus, I’m for Phocas!
This totallly cracked me up! Thank you!
I vote for Phocas
Phocas’s story made me cry!! He gets my vote!!
I vote Isidore !
400 Miracles is pretty darn impressive. As much as I love gardening, the Farmer's got my vote.
I voted for Phocas; he was generous to the needy and the poor
Anyone who gives away so much produce to the poor that the authorities want to kill him has my vote. Thats a lot of 'taters and 'maters! Hurrah for Phocas!
I was all set to vote for Isidore until I read about Phocas. Wow! What sacrifice!! That is what Lent is all about! Phocas got my vote!
I missed the voting, but would have voted for Isidore, the farmer. My father was a dairy farmer. I spent many summers helping. It was a wonderful experience.