Fiacre
Irish saint
Feast: 30 August (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Fiacre was an Irish priest who lived as a hermit by the River Nore in County Kilkenny. Seeking greater solitude, he went to France and in 628 reached Meaux, where Bishop Faro gave him land at Breuil. There he built an oratory to the Virgin Mary, a guest-house for strangers and a cell for himself, and lived by prayer, fasting and work in his garden; disciples gathered and a monastery grew up.
He was famous for curing the sick by laying on hands, and many cures were reported at his tomb at Breuil, which remained a place of pilgrimage for the sick. He died on 18 August 670.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
An Irish hermit in France, famous for healing, and patron of gardeners in popular devotion.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Fiacre
- Roman Martyrology, 30 August (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Q953927 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Saint Fiacre (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.