FIACRE, St, an anchorite of Irish descent, who was nobly born, but renounced his worldly advantages, and sailed to France to find a solitude where he might devote himself to fasting, prayer, and the practices of charity. On reaching Meaux he addressed himself to St Faro, the bishop of the diocese, who assigned him a dwelling in the forest of Breuil, in the province of Brie. Here Fiacre constructed a cell, and at a little distance from it an asylum for the reception of the strangers and pilgrims whom the fame of his austere life and charitable deeds soon attracted in large numbers. He died about 670, and his day is the 30th of August. He was buried in the oratory constructed by himself; and on account of the miracles reported to be performed at his shrine, it was soon resorted to by pilgrims from all parts of France. The name fiacre was first given to French hackney-coaches because they were used to convey pilgrims from Paris to the shrine of this saint, and started from an inn which was known by the sign of St Fiacre. A part of the remains of the saint were in 1568 transferred to the cathedral of Meaux, and in 1627 and 1695 the grand-dukes of Florence obtained other portions of them, but some, it is said, were still left in their old place of sepulture. St Fiacre is patron of the province of Brie, and patron saint of gardeners.