Born in Ireland; died c. 670; feast day formerly August 30. The Irish
hermit of Kilfiachra, Saint Fiacre, migrated to Gaul about 626 where he
was given hospitality and a piece of land by
Saint Faro (f.d. October 28)
at Meaux, which was part of his own patrimony. Tradition has it
that Bishop Faro offered him as much land as he could turn up in a day,
and that Fiacre, instead of using a plough, drove furrows into the
ground with the point of his staff. He cleared the land of tree and
briars,
made himself a cell and garden, and built an oratory to the Blessed
Virgin. Thus, Fiacre's hermitage arose, which became the abbey of
Breuil to house his many disciples, and a hospice for travellers.
Although many sought his advice, and the poor and sick looked to him for
relief, he strictly guarded his hermitage and chapel from women. Stories
are told about the fates of those females who trespassed--even after his
death. There was a persistent tradition that Fiacre had been offered
and declined the throne of Scotia (Ireland).
He has one of the strongest cults in France, one that had already
started within his own lifetime because of his extraordinary
sanctity, concern for the poor and suffering, and remarkable cures. His
chapel and shrine, eventually at Meaux, were much
visited by those seeking healings, especially those suffering from
haemorrhoids.
After the Battle of Agincourt, Henry V allowed his soldiers to pillage
Fiacre's shrine, but the cart bearing his relics could not be moved
beyond the boundary of Fiacre's monastery. It is said that Henry died
of haemorrhoids on the Feast of Saint Fiacre.
Three towns (in Brie, Plougat, and Brittany) bear his name, as do 30
churches in France. He has another shrine in Ireland at
Kilkenny, and Saint Fickers Bay near Aberdeen, Scotland, also bears his
name as does a church a few miles away. When cabs for hire first
appeared in Paris in 1620, their stand was close by the Hotel
Saint-Fiacre: from this came the French "fiacre" for a taxi. Thus, the
name of an Irish saint is perpetuated in the French language
(
Attwater,
Benedictines,
Encyclopaedia,
Montague,
White).
In art, Saint Fiacre is portrayed as an abbot carrying a shovel. He
might also be shown in a Benedictine habit with a heavy staff,
interceding for the sick, with pilgrims in the background, and a basket
of vegetables in the foreground
(
Roeder).
He is venerated at Kilfiacha, Ireland, and Saint Fiacre at
Seine-et-Marne, France. He is the patron of cabdrivers, gardeners,
florists, trellis-makers, boxmakers, brass-beaters, coppersmiths,
lead-founders, needle-makers, hosiers, tile-makers, and potters. He is
also the protector of field and garden fruits (because of the
vegetables he grew around his hermitage), and invoked against fistula,
haemorrhoids, tumours, colic, headache, sterility, and sickness
(
Roeder).
Brief Life of the Gardener Saint by Richard Marius
http://tinyurl.com/jrqhz
A Garden Plaque,
and other scraps of information on St. Fiacre:
http://saintspreserved.com/fiacre.htm