Saint Fiacre (or Fiachra) was born in Ireland in the seventh century. He was better known in France, where he built a hospice for travellers in what is now Saint-Fiacre. His relics are installed in Meaux Cathedral. In Ireland his feast day is 1 September; elsewhere it is 18 August.

Patronage

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He is the patron saint of:

Taxi drivers

The first horse-drawn carriages in France were offered outside the Hotel Saint-Fiacre in Paris. This later led to him becoming the patron of taxi-drivers and to fiacre becoming a word in the French language for a carriage.

Venereal disease

Fiacre was famously misogynistic, which, it is argued, is the reason he became connected with venereal disease sufferers.

Horticulturists

The patron of horticulturists, outside his hospice Fiacre ploughed a very fertile garden, with only his walking stick.

Hemorrhoids

It is said that Fiacre became the patron of hemorrhoid sufferers after taxi-drivers began to suffer from the complaint, after sitting down for so many hours at a time.

References

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1. Sacred Origins of Profound Things, by Charles Panati. ISBN 0140195440

Carriages | Irish saints

Fiacre (saint)