Saint Fiacre refusing the crown of Scotland (1818) by François-Louis Dejuinne - Public Domain Catholic Painting
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Gardeners and taxi cab drivers have a patron saint in St. Fiacre. Said to be the illegitimate son of a Scottish king, he was raised in County Kilkenny at a Kilfearagh monastery. He developed a local reputation for healing and herbal remedies. Finding notoriety unsettling, Fiacre went on a quest for solitude to France eventually ending up in a deep woods cell. St. Faro, bishop of Meaux, offered him land for a farm. Instead, St. Fiacre built a small hut surrounded by a garden.
Fiacre honored the Blessed Virgin with an oratory. He built a hospice that became Saint-Fiacre at Seine-et-Marne. Known for great charity, he attended to travelers and the poor alike. Not uncommon for monasteries then, he banned women from entering. Fiacre’s feast day is celebrated on Sept. 1. He often is shown in a garden setting holding a shovel in one hand and bible in the other.
The artist, François-Louis Dejuinne, was a French painter. He was born in Paris in 1786, and learned the art of painting under Girodet. He visited Rome, where he studied the works of Titian, Paolo Veronese, and other great masters. He died in Paris in 1844. His paintings were mostly historical; among them are the 'Ascension of the Virgin ' and 'St. Geneviève ' for Notre-Dame de Lorette, and 'The Four Seasons' for the Trianon Palace.
