ST. FIACRE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 192, 1 December 1876, Page 15

ST. FIACRE.

It has been said that Ireland sent religion and gardening to France. We all know what the Monks of the West did for this country, but possibly it is not equally well known that the patron of gardeners, St. Fiacre, whose festival was beautifully celebrated recently, was an Irishman, born about the year 600. He died in France, to which he passed over, in 670, having lived long as a hermit of great sanctity in the Brie country, near Meaux. He founded an hospital there which at first was an asylum for aged gardeners. The good saint, knowing their civilising influence, taught the culture of flowers — and also of fruits — in all his neighborhood. Living near the time of paganism, all the homage once rendered to Flora, Vertumna, and Pomona was turned towards the Hermit from Hibernia It is believed that he first cultivated the rose in France, the antique rose of Provins, centuries before the Crusaders brought back to this country the sweet rose of Damascus. The Irish St. Fiacre must not be confounded with a more modern French saint of the same name, who, since the days of the Grand Monarque, has given his name to public cabs and coaches. This second St. Fiacre was born at Marly-la- Ville in 1609, and was also a monk of great piety, who predicted the birth and glorious reign of Louis XIV. He founded a chapel which was the origin of the present Parisian chief church of pilgrimage, Notre Dame des Victoires. This holy man was held in such veneration that on the first introduction of public carriages they fixed his likeness on the backs of the new