SAN ISIDRO LABRADOR, PATRON SAINT OF MADRID
Because the date is approaching, we have decided to tell you a little about the history of the Patron saint of this great city and to mention the program of activities – so you can enjoy them like a local.
San Isidro was a farmer – hence his “surname” – who lived in the Plaza de San Andrés – now the museum of San Isidro – in Madrid in the eleventh century, when this city was not the capital yet. This man had a reputation for being very kind to the neediest, so throughout his life, many miracles were attributed to him. Among them, one about the sprouting of a spring of water that served to supply the entire city of Madrid and another about his son -who fell into a well and miraculously the water rose until he could leave.
Isidro died at home and his fame came so far that even kings visited his grave to cure some diseases. Carlos I and his son Felipe II went to drink at the miraculous spring of the saint to cure fevers with their water. Due to the positive results obtained, a hermitage was raised in gratitude next to the spring. Thanks to this healing, Isidro was beatified in 1619 by Pope Paul V and 3 years later he was also canonized.
Since then, San Isidro is the Patron saint of Madrid, and every May 15 the water from the fountain, which the saint made flow in times of drought, is blessed and it is a tradition to go in pilgrimage to drink the “saint’s water” from a spring annex to the Hermitage. Afterward, people have a snack in the meadow of San Isidro -which used to be farmlands, as in the Goya painting, enjoying the donuts and finally the verbena.
Nowadays there is a huge queue of people with empty containers to fill their bottles and jars with the water from the fountain. When you arrive you don’t put water on it, there’s a desk where the water carriers serve it. If you don’t have a container, don’t worry, there it’s full of merchants who will sell them to you -with or without festive decorations-. You can also go just for a glass of water. The water and the service are free, but you can give alms.
If you liked the story, do not miss the celebrations! In addition to the pilgrimage and the snack, Madrid is full of festivities. We leave you here the official website with the program. You will find activities of all kinds in different spaces from Friday, May 11 to the day of San Isidro, Tuesday, May 15.