Every year, on or about the Feast of St. Honoré, French bakers celebrate la Fete du Pain! This year, it begins today, May 16, which is the feast day of St. Honoré. Why this day you ask? St. Honoré is the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs. Perhaps you’ve heard of Gateau St. Honoré, a cake that bears his name and was created in his honour.
St. Honoré, also known as Honoratus, became bishop of Amiens in Northern France in the 6th century.
During his life, natural disasters which would have otherwise affected millers and bakers bypassed them miraculously, and Honoré was given the credit.
His devotion was widespread in France following reports of numerous miracles when his body was exhumed in 1060.
A statue of Honoratus stands in the portal of Amiens Cathedral.
After his death, processions in his honour supposedly stopped both droughts and deluges, ensuring good wheat harvests. This won him the admiration of bakers across the country. A baker in Paris built a chapel in his honour in 1204. His name is on the gate in Paris leading into Faubourg and rue Saint Honoré.
Eventually, the French bakers’ guild decided to honour him in the 17th century with the distinction of being the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs. At that time, guilds strictly regulated the craft and the French bakers’ guild subsidized a chapel that became the central point for the gatherings of their confraternity, a sort of religious arm of the guild, which gave St. Honoré serious name recognition among bakers.
In imagery, he is depicted holding a baker’s peel (flat wooden paddle used to move loaves to and from a hot oven), often with loaves of French bread nearby.
Sources disagree over whether he was a baker, but when he was named bishop, a baker’s peel was said to have put down roots and transformed into a fruiting tree, much to the surprise of the incredulous woman holding it. The woman who was holding that baker’s peel had been the governess of St. Honoré during his childhood and when she was told that he had been chosen as bishop to shepherd the city’s faithful, she laughed and tossed aside her peel, saying: “It’s easier for this peel to spring back to life, than for Honoré to become bishop.” Imagine her surprise the next morning, seeing that her baker’s peel had turned into a vigorous blackberry bush.
Every year in Paris, beginning on his feast day, they celebrate la Fete du Pain.
Suspended during the past two years due to Covid, this year it makes its comeback on St. Honoré Day with the theme “Y’a d’la vie dans la boulangerie!” – There’s life in the bakery!
The theme brings to mind a vibrant and dynamic profession passing along its baking traditions from generation to generation.
St. Honoré is further remembered through the St. Honore cake. Invented in Paris in the 19th century, this confection consists of a ring of pastry filled with Chiboust cream, then topped with small cream puffs dipped in caramelized sugar and draped with whipped cream.
Our family has passed along our recipes and skills as bakers from generation to generation. Our roots lie in France, Ireland and Italy. It was Lorraine’s great-grandmother, whose family hailed from the Lorraine region, and whose ancestors arrived here in the 1600s, who passed along the age-old family traditions of baking to the current generation. The profession of baker is an old and honoured one in France and we are keen to continue the legacy begun by those who came before.
And, as part of our celebration of St. Honoré, watch for our announcement this week for a chance to try a special treat…
And that’s the truth
– the Sable Truth.
https://www.bakemag.com/articles/5362-watch-laduree-s-saint-honore-rose-dessert-get-made
https://www.bakemag.com/articles/5312-may-16-is-the-feast-day-of-st-honore-patron-saint-of-bakers
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/make-st-honore-cake
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/05/16/152818748/thank-the-patron-saint-of-bakers-for-this-cake-today
https://nobility.org/2013/05/st-honore-pastry-and-its-noble-patron-saint/
https://www.boulangerie.org/blog/la-fete-du-pain-2022-cest-du-16-au-22-mai/
https://www.saintsfeastfamily.com/copy-of-may-16-month-of-mary-2