Carol,
On St Fiacre as saint invoked by hemorrhoid sufferers, I gather that this
association derives from a play on words, the first syllable of his name
being pronounced similarly to a slang word in French for the fundament,
viz, 'phy'! (He was also patron saint against other afflictions of that
region of the body, including diarrhoea.)
Cheers,
Martin
Martin Howley, Humanities Librarian, Tel: (709) 737-8514
QE II Library, Memorial Univ of Newfoundland FAX: (709) 737-2153
St John's, NFLD, Canada A1B 3Y1 E-mail:[log in to unmask]
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'Ne credat lector, quod sibi sufficiat lectio sine unctione, speculatio
sine devotione, investigatio sine admiratione, ....industria sine pietate,
scientia sine caritate, intelligentia sine humilitate.' -- St Bonaventure
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On Tue, 1 Sep 1998, CA. Muessig wrote:
> Today, 1 September, is the feast of ...
> * Fiacre or Fiachra (670?)
> - invoked against venereal diseases; patron of gardeners and of
> Parisian taxi drivers; relics at Meaux are still visited (in fact the
> shrine was particularly popular in the seventeenth century)
>
> Two years ago ............. Jo ann McNamara wrote:
> ............. I believe St. Fiacre is also particularly effective
> against hemorrhoids (sp?) I remember a stone in Brittany imprinted
> miraculously by his buttocks that sufferers sat in with splendid
> results.
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