Cab Drivers / Fiacre, d. 670, Feast Day: August 30

An Irish monk skilled in the arts of healing and herbology, Fiacre fled to Brittany to avoid the throngs of people asking him for cures and advice. He created a hermitage near a spring and it was said that by walking and poking the earth with a stick, he would get a full-grown garden to appear. In seventeenth-century Paris, the Hotel Fiacre rented out carriages that were referred to as “fiacres” by the general public. Cabs in Paris are stilled called by this name.

Other patronages: box makers, florists, gardeners, hosiers, tile makers

Invoked: against barrenness, fistulas, hemorrhoids, venereal diseases

Biologists / Augustine of Hippo, 354–430,
Feast Day: August 28

Married Women / Monica, 331–387, Feast Day: August 27

Born as a Christian in Algeria and living with a pagan husband in Carthage, Monica had a difficult marriage. Her husband was abusive and her mother-in-law disliked her. Monica was a reformed alcoholic when she followed her pleasure-loving son, Augustine, to Italy. She was known for her tears and constant prayers for his conversion. After a wild life, he became one of the greatest saints of the Catholic Church. Monica died shortly after he became a Christian.

Other patronages: housewives; abuse victims, adultery victims, alcoholics, disappointing children, mothers

Archeologists / Helena, 250–330, Feast Day: August 18

Married to the coregent of the Western Roman Empire, Helena was divorced by him when he became emperor. Upon his death and the ascension of her son Constantine to the throne, she was installed in court and treated as royalty. A devout Christian, she influenced her son to legalize Christianity. At the age of eighty she traveled to the Holy Land, paying for a successful expedition to uncover the True Cross.

Other patronages: Madrid, Paris; dyers, empresses, nail makers; converts, difficult marriages, divorced people

Invoked: against demons; to find lost objects

Hungary / Stephen of Hungary, 975–1038,
Feast Day: August 16

Contagious Diseases / Roch, 1295–1327,
Feast Day: August 16

Horses / Hippolytus of Rome, d. 236, Feast Day: August 13

His name means “a horse turned loose,” and Hippolytus is often confused with Theseus’s son of the same name, who was dragged to death by horses. Saint Hippolytus was a Roman Christian so concerned with orthodoxy that he declared himself the antipope. He was exiled to Sardinia and worked in the mines along with Pope Pontian. He reconciled himself with Pontian and they were martyred there together.

Desperate Situations / Philomena, dates unknown, Feast Day: August 11

Television Workers / Clare of Assisi, 1194–1255, Feast Day: August 11

Founder of her own order of nuns, together with Saint Francis, Clare challenged the religious authorities of their day by leading a youthful resurgence of spirituality, embracing poverty and simplicity. A mystic, Clare viewed midnight mass one Christmas from her bed and was able to correctly recount all the details of the service. This made her the patron of television.

Other patronages: telegraphs, telephones; embroiderers, gilders, needle workers

Invoked: against eye disease

Dominican Republic / Dominic de Guzman, 1170–1221, Feast Day: August 8