Saint Fiaker
Prince of Scotland and Anchorite
(† 670)
Saint
Fiaker was the eldest son of Eugene IV, king of Scotland, born in the
early sixth century heir to the throne of Scotland. He was educated
under the care of a bishop of eminent sanctity, Conan, Bishop of Soder
or the Western Islands.
Considering
all worldly advantages as dross, the young prince, accompanied by his
sister, left country and friends when in the flower of his age, and
sailed to France. The prince intended to seek a solitude to which they
might retire and devote themselves to God, unknown to the rest of the
world. Divine Providence conducted them to Saint Faro, Bishop of Meaux,
eminent for his sanctity. When Saint Fiaker addressed himself to him,
the prelate, charmed with the marks of extraordinary virtue and
abilities which he discerned in this stranger, gave him a solitary
dwelling in a forest called Breuil, two leagues from Meaux. He placed
the princess Sira in the Faremoutier monastery for women, of which his
own sister was Abbess, and in that convent the young Christian found the
enduring peace of Christ.
The
holy anchorite Fiaker cleared the ground of trees and briers, made
himself a cell and cultivated a small garden. He built an oratory in
honor of the Blessed Virgin, where he spent the greater part of the days
and nights in devout prayer, laboring also with his own hands for his
subsistence. The life he led was very austere, and only necessity or
charity ever interrupted his exercises of prayer and heavenly
contemplation.
Many
resorted to him for advice, and the poor sought relief at his door.
Saint Chillen, or Kilian, an Irishman of high birth, on his return from
Rome visited Saint Fiaker, who was his kinsman. After spending some time
under his discipline, this other budding Saint was directed by Fiaker's
advice and with the authority of the bishops, to preach in the nearby
dioceses as well as in that of Saint Faro. This commission he executed
with admirable sanctity and fruit, and his relics were later placed in
the same coffer as those of his eminent relative, the saintly hermit.
Saint Fiaker died in the year 670, on the 30th of August; he is the patron of gardeners.
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