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Fiacre with his spade and an open book beside a chapel, a miniature by the Master of Jean Rolin II, 1455

Saint Fiacre

Irish hermit at Meaux who lived by his garden; the Paris cab bears his name

Patron of
gardeners
Western calendar
30 August
Orthodox calendar
Not kept

Fiacre was an Irish priest who lived as a hermit on the banks of the Nore until disciples crowded his solitude, and in 628 he crossed to Meaux, where Bishop Faro gave him a site in the forest at Breuil. There he built an oratory to the Blessed Virgin, a hospice for strangers and a cell for himself, and lived by prayer, fasting and the work of his garden. A legend tells that Faro granted him as much land as he could furrow in one day and that Fiacre turned the earth with the point of his crosier; gardeners have him as their patron, and the Paris cab, the fiacre, took its name from an inn that bore his image.

Sources

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It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

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We began with the saints people search for most, by name, by need and by date, along with the apostles and the saints Orthodox Christians look for. Then we made sure every day of the year has at least one saint. That gives 378 so far, and we keep adding the saints readers ask for.

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