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ST. FIACRE, PATRON SAINT OF GARDENERS 

 AND CAB-DRIVERS 



Gardeners who, to a man, are dedicated to peaceful 

 and meditative pursuits, should care to know of the story 

 of Saint Fiacre, the Irish Prince who turned hermit, and 

 after his death was hailed Patron of Gardeners. 



He left Ireland, says the story, at that time when a 

 missionary zeal was sending Irish monks the length and 

 breadth of Europe. As Saint Pol left Britain and slew 

 the Dragon on the Isle of Batz ; Saint Gall drove the 

 spirits of flood across the Lake of Constance ; Saint 

 Columban founded monasteries in Burgundy and the 

 Apennines, so did Saint Fiacre leave his native land and 

 take himself to France, and there by a miracle enlarge 

 the space of his garden. 



At Meaux, on the river Marne, near Paris, the Bishop 

 Saint Far on had founded a new monastery in the woods 

 and called it the Monastery of Saint Croix. To this 

 monastery came the son of the Irish King, and made his 

 vows. It was early days in Europe, for Saint Fiacre 

 died in or about the year 670, and it is almost impossible 

 to imagine the perils and discomforts of his journey, for 

 in Britain and Gaul fighting was going on, roads were bad 

 and unsafe, the sea had to be crossed in an open boat. 



But these Celts, driven west by war, now began to 

 make their own war on Europe, not with sword and' 

 shield and battle-cry, but with pilgrim's staff, and reed 



§8 



