Friday, December 12, 2008

Patron Saint for Gardeners

Hi all.
For starters I'm about as catholic as the beetroot I grow, but I've always liked their idea of Patron Saints.

So it was that my daughter and I were discussing various Patron Saints and who did what. It was at this stage I remembered having read something about a Patron Saint for Gardeners which I've always felt pretty chuffed about that gardeners could be significant enough to attract their own saint.

Anyhow after some reliable internet research I discovered, to my surprise our (gardeners) Patron Saint for Gardeners is also the Patron Saint for Cabbies, well I'll be blowed, you could have knocked me down with a feather.

And who is this Saint, well let me introduce to you St. Fiacre

Now from what I can gather, from the reliable information available on the internet is that St. Fiacre started out life in Ireland in the seventh century.

He was raised in a Irish monastery which were known for their learning, including the use of healing herbs, as stuided by Fiacre. He lived here to avoid people so he could devote himself to God, but bolted for France after becoming to sought out as a herbalist, healer and a holy man.

I can't find out when or how he became a Saint if anyone has any knowledge of this process I sure like to know.

Apparently it was in France he did all his good work. You can find out more here, here and here.
They all say pretty much the same thing.

Now for the cabbie bit. This all came about because the Hotel de Saint Fiacre in Paris, France rented carriages. People who had no idea who Fiacre was referred to the cabs as "Fiacre cabs", and eventually as "fiacres".

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I am Catholic and I have never heard of him how cool is that your very own Patron Saint Stewart!!! Did you like the Christmas Trivia today??

daisymum

Anonymous said...

Hi Stewart what a wonderful and interseting snippet of trivia.
Love your blog very interesting thankyou.
Regards
Rhonda

My Veggie Garden said...

Hi dm7,
Yes I read your trivia as I have each day and have found it very enlightening. Btw can we have some photos of your potato patch, I love to see them.
Hi Ronda,
Thank you very much, though I am quite envious of your 5 acres. But if I keep working and keep saving I'll have my own one day.
Cheers and Merry Christmas
Stewart