Saint Fiacre

Unknown

mid-15th century · Alabaster · The Cloisters

Holding a shovel in one hand, Saint Fiacre is presented as the patron saint of gardeners. According to the legend of this seventh-century saint, Fiacre earned the right to establish a hermitage and a hospice for the poor after single-handedly clearing an entire forest in one day. Famed for growing many different kinds of vegetables and herbs in his garden in Meaux, France, he made and dispensed many herbal remedies. Credited with miraculous cures, Saint Fiacre was particularly renowned for curing hemorrhoids. Devotion to the saint and his relics was predictably strong at the monastery he founded near Brie in the diocese of Meaux, but he was venerated throughout northern France.

Artist

Unknown

Date

mid-15th century

Medium

Alabaster

Culture

British or French

Department

The Cloisters

Credit line

The Cloisters Collection, 1925