Fête de la Saint-Fiacre—and a prayer too

This past weekend our gardening friends and counterparts in Ireland and France celebrated the Feast Day of St. Fiacre—the Patron Saint of gardening. Although celebrated by other Catholics in other countries, St. Fiacre was born in Ireland and lived his life in France so these two countries venerate him more than others. 

I was quite tickled (to be completely honest) when a long drawn out conversation about the Saint appeared in my Facebook feed early on August 31st. Started by a French plant breeder, talk almost immediately centered on how everyone celebrated the feast (with food of course), and why the date of this feast has been shifting. Although the official day is now set on August 11th, those in Ireland and France still apparently celebrate it either on August 30 (France) or September 1 (Ireland). 

St Fiacre with his shovel.

Yes, I have a statue of the Saint in my garden. I am rather fond of this guy. 

I think he's appeared here on the blog before, but I thought I'd write a little ode to him again now that it looks like I'll be staying here for several more years. I didn't pray to him to help me, but I guess I can quietly thank him. Time in the garden can be so lonely. It's good to have friends.

No, I am not an active Catholic, but I am very much Catholic by culture. I enjoy having a few statues of Saints around me when I'm in the garden. When they are not there, it honestly doesn't feel quite right to me.

St. Fiacre was a healer and worked with herbs. As I'm considering building my first herb garden, he's a good friend to meditate upon. I also like to believe that he was a good and gentle soul determined to help others. We need people like that in our lives. I am all for healing and think about it often.

In his right hand he holds a rose.

 In his left hand, he holds a shovel.

Heirloom Costoluto Genovese tomatoes from my future mother-in-law's garden. 

St. Fiacre is also the Patron Saint of Vegetable Gardeners, but that's of course not what this prayer is about:

Prayer to St. Fiacre

O good St. Fiacre to whom God has given the power to heal

the bodies of men affected by ugly evils of all kinds,

deign to intercede for us with the Almighty Creator,

so that our body restored to health,

can attain eternal glory.

Amen.

As a good Catholic-educated woman I think that 12 years in their educational network allows me to finally write a prayer of my own. Let's leave it as ann-onymous though since we all know that woman were not yet created as equals according to "the Church". 

Prayer to St Fiacre 

By Ann-onymous aka Amateur Bot-ann-ist

St Fiacre, I know you were good, 

and you gardened, and grew herbs. 

Today we celebrate you and your abilities to heal, 

but I celebrate your blessings and I pray for my organic solutions.

I pray to an end to man messing with my foods.

I pray for the bees and the birds 

—and that's not just because I'm a naughty Catholic school girl and it is fun to write that now. 

I pray that we can live in a world where the female is as respected as the male—because infertility can come from either side, and you're the Patron Saint of that too. 

Next year please bless our tomatoes, keep powdery mildew at bay, and try to protect our gardens from deep freezes and a Snowpocalypse. 

Lastly, God bless the florists too and thank you for protecting them. 

Stay fabulous St. Fiacre—eternally. 

Thank you and God bless. 

Cemetery Roses

I found this old cemetery rose at a pioneer cemetery near Astoria, Oregon. My husband and I love to seek out these old plants when we go on our trips because it really is such a fun activity when you are traveling with so little money. When I was a child, doing this kind of thing was normal, but now, young folks don't always do these kinds of things, often calling them old fashioned or outdated. All I know is that it is an activity that I used to like to take part in, and I still do. I hope that my nieces, or even my future nephew, will do the same in the future.
These small rose blooms smelled amazing and although the cuttings I took did not take, luckily I will be able to return there soon for some more.
I hope to add a few others to my collection too as time goes by. Let me know if you have any great ones.

Favorite Houseplant

I love this Christmas Cactus! It was given to my mother during the winter of 2002-2003 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time. I have divided it once, and in the future, I plan to make more of them for my family members and others. I call the plant "Mom's Cancer Cactus" but we all know that it's really a Christmas Cactus. Even though the plants only bloom once a year, their blooms are so welcome during those cold damp days of winter. I hope to buy others in time, but for now, I have both Mom's Cancer Cactus" and my mom too!