When he arrived at Meaux in 628, the bishop St Faro, well-disposed to him due to kindnesses he and his father’s house had received from the Irish missionary Columbanus, granted him a site at Brogillum (Breuil), in the province of Brie.
He cleared the ground of trees and briers, made a cell for himself, a garden for herbs and vegetables, a chapel, and a hospice for travellers. All this developed into the village of Saint-Fiacre. It is situated in Seine-et-Marne department of the Île-de-France region. Again in time the crowds flocked to him in search of cures. He died around 670.
He has become the patron saint of gardeners. In 1999 a garden in his honour was made at the National Stud in Kildare. It has become a major tourist attraction.
Fiacre is also the patron of taxi-drivers. The Hôtel de St-Fiacre, in the Rue St-Martin, Paris, in the middle of the seventeenth century was the first to hire out coaches. The sign of the inn was an image of the saint, and the coaches in time came to be called fiacres.
Prayer for Gardeners: Dear God our Father, giver of all good, we lift up our hearts to you in thanksgiving for who you are and for the power and majesty you manifest in the earth. We thank you for the sun, the rain, and the abundant fruits, flowers, vegetables, and herbs you cause to spring forth in our gardens, fields and flowerpots, all signs of your never-ending love. Through the intercession of Saint Fiacre, patron of gardeners, please bless our fields and gardens with your blessings. Give us the strength and wisdom to tend our plants and all living things with care, diligence and joy. May we bring forth a good harvest in due season. In Jesus name. Amen.