Easter: May 15th
Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter; Optional Memorial of St. Isidore (USA)
Other Commemorations: St. John Baptist de la Salle, confessor
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Isidore 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 National Rural Life Conference in the United States.
According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. John Baptist de la Salle. He was inspired by God to give a Christian education to the poor, he founded the Brothers of the Christan Schools which soon spread throughout the world. In private life he treated himself with extreme rigor. He died in 1719. His feast in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is celebrated on April 7.According to the Roman Martyrology, today is the feast of St. Dymphna, the daughter of a pagan Celtic chieftain and a Christian. She fled from her home on the death of her mother to escape the incestuous interest of her father and went to Antwerp accompanied by her confessor, St. Gerebernus, and two companions. They then built an oratory at Gheel where they lived as hermits. Tracked down by Dymphna's father, the two companions and the priest were murdered by his men, and Dymphna was beheaded by her father when she refused to return with him. The feast of the Queen of Apostles was established on the first Saturday after the Ascension by the Sacred Congregation of Rites at the request of the Pallottine Fathers. Mary initiated her mission as Queen of Apostles in the Cenacle. She gathered the apostles together, comforted them, and assisted them in prayer. Together with them she hoped, desired and prayed; with them her petitions were heeded and she received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.Mary, Queen of Apostles
Mary is Queen of Apostles because she was chosen to be the Mother of Jesus Christ and to give him to the world; she was made the apostles' Mother and our own by our Savior on the cross. She was with the apostles while awaiting the descent of the Holy Spirit, obtaining for them the abundance of supernatural graces they received on Pentecost. The most holy Virgin was and always will be the wellspring for every apostolate.

- Say Novena to Queen of Apostles
- Read Pentecost with Mary, Queen of Apostles on Catholic Culture
St. Isidore the FarmerWhen he was barely old enough to wield a hoe, Isidore entered the service of John de Vergas, a wealthy landowner from Madrid, and worked faithfully on his estate outside the city for the rest of his life. He married a young woman as simple and upright as himself who also became a saint-Maria de la Cabeza. They had one son, who died as a child.
- St. Isidore (and his wife Maria) are the patrons of the Catholic Rural Life Conference website. Read this reflection on St. Isidore, their patron, some ideas to celebrate his feast and Novena to St. Isidore. Two books we especially recommend: Cooking for Christ by Florence Berger (although we prefer the original 1949 edition; this is an edited version), and Rural Life Celebration Guide.
- Learn more about St. Isidore the farmer.
- Establishing or replenishing a a Mary garden would be an appropriate way to celebrate the combination of the feast of St. Isidore and the month of May, dedicated to Mary.
- Visit mgardens.org to learn more about Mary Gardens.
Mary's Flowers: Gardens, Legends and Meditations by Vincenzina Krymow. - Visit Stokes Marys Gardens.
- Another book by Vincenzina Krymow is Healing Plants of the Bible which explains Biblical gardens and plants.