Among gardens, garden centers, statuaries and yard art, the stone figure of a monk gently holding a bird in open hand is sometimes found. The statue of the robed monk is St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology. But what of the monk who holds a spade?
In some faiths a saint is one who is called on for help with a specific need. In my junior high, wearing St. Christopher was fashionable. He was the patron saint of travel and, having children learning to drive, parents of any faith had no problem with their sons and daughters donning a St. Christopher charm.
The statue of a monk holding the spade is the lesser known St. Fiacre, the patron saint of growing vegetables, medicinal plants and gardening in general.
The story of St. Fiacre says the Irish monk desired a life of solitude and wished to live in the forest in northern France. Those seeking healing came to Fiacre, knowing he was a holy man skilled with herbs and healing. In the 600s, Fiacre could well have been among the first herbalists. Fiacre’s herbal remedies were particularly good at healing hemorrhoids, and thus hemorrhoids were known as “Fiacre’s figs.”
Fiacre built a hospice for strangers and a hut for himself. After a time, his garden began to outgrow its bounds so he requested St. Faro, the Bishop of Meaux, provide him more land for his healing gardens.
Faro struck a deal with Fiacre, declaring he could have as much land as he could turn with a spade in one day. Fiacre marked out the land he would require then retired to his hut to pray. The next morning everywhere he had marked the land the soil had been turned.
A suspicious-looking woman went to Faro and accused Fiacre of witchcraft. Faro suspected the woman a witch and granted Fiacre the land. Fiacre was so enraged by the woman that it is said he never allowed another woman into his garden. I can only hope that his spirit eventually forgave us.
Most of those sainted have several areas of responsibility, and Fiacre is no exception. Though not officially recognized, Fiacre is also the saint of taxi drivers. This developed after 1648 when horse drawn carriages were rented out at a house on Rue St. Martin in Paris. The house was called Hotel de St Fiacre and above the doorway was the figure of the monk. The rented carriages all had the image of St. Fiacre on their “dashboards,” and thus Fiacre became the patron saint of taxi drivers.
I inquired of a list of patron saints and found some most interesting, such as St. Frances de Sales, saint of writers and journalists; St. Clare of Assisi, saint of television; Saint Genesius, saint of actors, comedians and lawyers; St. John the Evangelist, saint of book sellers, art dealers and printers; and St. Michael, saint of grocers, police officers and radiologists.
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