Today, 1 September, is the feast of ...
* Aegidius or Giles, abbot (date unknown)
- according to the very popular legend (dating from the tenth
century), Giles was an Athenian by birth, who escaped the fame his
sanctity brought on him by fleeing to Marseilles; eventually, he became a
hermit who lived in a cave, at times in the company of a hind who would
hide from the King's huntsmen; the king eventually discovered this, and
induced Giles to found an abbey
- he died on a Sunday, 1 September, 'leaving the world sadder for
his bodily absence but giving joy in Heaven by his happy arrival'
* the Twelve Brothers, martyrs (date unknown)
- natives of Hadrumetum in proconsular Africa, children of saints
Boniface and Thecla (their feast was on 30 August), they were martyred
over four days in Puglia; relics translated to church of St Sophia in
Benevento
* Verena, virgin (date unknown)
- honoured throughout the Swiss Alps, where she spent her time
caring for the cleanliness of the area's peasants; she is portrayed
holding a comb and a bowl
* Lupus or Leu, bishop of Sens (623)
- one day, while singing Mass, a precious stone dropped
miraculously into the chalice
* 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)
Four years ago many of you were perplexed by the Parisian taxi driver
connection. Some of you provided possible explanations:
Jo ann McNamara wrote:
Just to complicate things further but, perhaps, to explain the taxi
drivers at least: 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.
John Parsons wrote:
Regarding the feast of St Fiacre--the French word "fiacre" came to refer
(by the 18th century anyway) to a type of carriage that was often run for
hire in Paris. This might well explain the taxi driver connection. Given
the Gallic proclivity for naming objects for a pseudo-place of origin
(e.g., any dish of food conspicuously containing carrots is properly
called "a la Crecy" because Crecy is as well-known for its carrots as for
Edward III's victory), it's possible that this type of carriage
originated, or was manufactured, at St-Fiacre-en-Brie. Nailing this down
would naturally take some research though. Are there any details in
Fiacre's vita or legend (with which I am utterly unfamiliar) that would
possibly connect with a journey by cart or carriage?
Monica Sandor added:
For the record, a certain type of horse-drawn carriage is also called
"fiaker" in Hungarian, probably from German. This despite that the single
word ever to come into English from Hungarian is the word "coach", for the
village Kocs in Hungary where apparently it originated, thus confirming
John Parsons' theory about objects named for places.
And two years ago Martin Howley added:
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.)
* Sebbe (c. 694)
- co-king of the East Saxons, he became a monk; buried in the
north wall of old St Paul's; named in the Roman Martyrology on 29 August,
but his feast is kept today in the diocese of Brentwood
* Drithelm (c. 700)
- was known to stand in the icy river Tweed reciting his office;
had mystical experiences
* John of Perugia and Peter of Sassoferrato, martyrs (1231)
- sent by Francis of Assisi to preach in Valencia, where they were
beheaded while praying for the conversion of the emir; seven years later,
he not only converted but he gave his house to the Franciscans for use as
a friary (it is surely a coincidence that by that time, the emir was
subject to the king of Aragon, James I the Conqueror)
* Joan Soderini, virgin (1367)
- a Florentine noble who joined St Juliana Falconieri in the house
of the third order regular of the Servites; known for her gift of prophecy
and her predilection for performing the most distasteful tasks
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Carolyn Muessig
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