Much of the information here is taken from the website https://www.omniumsanctorumhiberniae.com/
St. Fiacre was born around the year 590. He was from a noble family in Connaught. Charity was a strong characteristic in his life. One day, a poor pauper came by seeking an alms. Fiachra was already exhausted from his precedent alms giving, and having nothing left he bestowed his rich mantle to the poor man.
Fiacre later decided to live the religious life, placing himself under the care of St. Cuanna, a saint famed for learning and sanctity, at his monastery at Kilcoona, along the shore of Loch Orbsen. Fiacre was ordained priest, and wished to live the contemplative life. He departed from the school of St. Cuanna, and established his first hermitage on the banks of the Nore near Kilkenny, to live an austere life. This hermitage became later known as Kill-Fiachra, or Kilfera. Now Fiacre became an accomplished with the use of herbs, a recognised a healer, and saintly man, who caused followers to flock to him. But he desired greater solitude, so leaving Kilkenny, Fiacre sought refuge in France, at Meaux.
In France, He approached Bishop Faro, of the diocese of Meaux. He expressed his desire to live a life of solitude. St. Faro gave him a site at Breuil, present day Brie which was once upon a time a tract of land called Broilus (Latin for a small wood). This forest land was considered uninhabitable, and infested with ‘sorcerers’ and barbarians. At Breuil, St. Fiacre received as much land as he could furrow in one day. He ploughed the soil using the point of his spade, and with divine help he would uproot trees, briers and weeds. Fiacre went on to render his land arable, creating a lofty sized garden with vegetables, fruit, flowers and medical herbs.
He was a great ascetic, a man of prayer, fasting, and manual labour as a gardener. His food consisted of roots and wild herbs. As a herbalist, St. Fiacre had a medicine that would become known as “Saint Fiacre’s figs” in the Middle Ages. His medicine had a reputation for healing haemorrhoids. St. Fiacre erected an oratory to venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a hospice to take in strangers, and a private cell to retire in prayer. Fiacre did this with the help of his growing number of disciple, and this apostolic work helped with the maintenance of pilgrims to the monastery. His original preparation work was again initiated with the help of his spade and divine support of uprooting trees. Seeing this miracle of the spade, an busy body woman called ‘La Becnaude’ rushed to the diocese of Meaux, denouncing Fiacre as a sorcerer to bishop Faro. She returned to Breuil with orders from the diocese to stop all operations straight away. This caused Fiacre much grief, as he sank with sadness into the jacked rocks in the trench. These rocks melted forming a comforting chair for Fiacre. The bishop on arrival seeing and understanding such miracle of the stone chair in a trench, took Fiacre’s side. A decree that all women should be banished from the monastic grounds was established by the abbot Fiacre. One noble lady would try her luck and infringe this decree, but she suffered sudden a violent illness. Physicians called her illness ”Fiacre’s Malady”. This decree of prohibition of women lasted until 1760 when it was dissolved. Fiacre died on 18 August, 670 A. D.
Today there is veneration to St. Fiacre’s relics at Meaux Cathedral. Visitors to his shrine included Anne, of Austria, Bossuet, and Vincent de Paul. St. Fiachra is today venerated as patron at Brie, and one of the chief patrons of the diocese of Meaux; He is venerated in France as patron of gardeners and of the Fiacre-drivers, the French hackney cab dubbed since early times for the use of pilgrims travelling to the Brie shrine.
His memory is celebrated by the church on the 30th of August
by 