FIACRE, fî-ā'cr (FIACHRACH), SAINT: Irish hermit; b. in Ireland c. 610; d. at Breuil, near Meaux (27 m. e.n.e. of Paris), c. 670. Seeking seclusion he went to France with a few companions and erected a small monastery in the woods near Meaux, and also a small dwelling-house, in which he received his guests. No woman was allowed to enter his monastery. As early as the ninth century he had acquired great fame as a worker of miracles. He was thought to have effected wonderful cures merely by the laying on of his hands; and pilgrims flocked to his shrine, believing that his remains still possessed healing power. The shrine containing his remains, which was removed to the cathedral of Meaux in 1568, has been opened frequently, lastly in 1637, when some of the vertebræ were given to Cardinal Richelieu. Fiacre is the patron saint of gardeners and is commemorated on Aug. 30. In France his name has been perpetuated by the fact that in 1640 a merchant in Paris who had carriages to rent placed the image of St. Fiacre over his door and called the establishment the Hôtel de St. Fiacre ; in course of time his carriages came to be known as "Fiacres," and the word passed into the French language as the common term for a public carriage.