Saint Fiacre emigrated from his native Ireland to France, where he constructed for himself a hermitage together with a vegetable and herb garden, oratory, and hospice for travellers.
12 Facts About Saint Fiacre
2.
Saint Fiacre was raised in a monastery where he became a monk and imbibed knowledge of herbal medicine.
3.
Saint Faro, the Bishop of Meaux, was "well-disposed to him due to kindnesses he and his father's house had received from the Irish missionary Columbanus," and so "granted him a site at Brogillum, in the province of Brie" when Saint Fiacre approached him and manifested his desire to live a life of solitude in the forest.
4.
Saint Fiacre lived a life of great mortification devoted to prayer, fasting, keeping vigils, and manual cultivation of his garden.
5.
Saint Fiacre Faro recognized that this was the work of God.
6.
Saint Fiacre was restored miraculously to the use of vision.
7.
Saint Fiacre's relics were preserved in his original shrine in the local church of the site of his hermitage, garden, oratory, and hospice, in present Saint-Fiacre, Seine-et-Marne, France, but later transferred in 1568 to their present shrine in Meaux Cathedral in Meaux, which is near Saint-Fiacre and in the same French department, because of fear that fanatical Calvinists endangered them.
8.
Saint Fiacre had a reputation for healing haemorrhoids, which were denominated "Saint Fiacre's figs" in the Middle Ages.
9.
Saint Fiacre is the patron saint of the commune of Saint-Fiacre, Seine-et-Marne, France.
10.
Saint Fiacre is the patron of growers of vegetables and medicinal plants, and gardeners in general, including ploughboys.
11.
Saint Fiacre's reputed aversion to women is believed to be the reason that he is considered the patron of victims of venereal disease.
12.
Saint Fiacre is further the patron of victims of hemorrhoids and fistulas, taxi cab drivers, box makers, florists, hosiers, pewterers, tilemakers, and those suffering from infertility.