St. Florian, patron of firefighters
May 4 is the feast of St. Florian, a third century Roman military officer stationed in Austria, who openly professed his Christianity during the persecution of Diocletian. St. Florian was an officer of the Roman army, who occupied a high administrative post in Austria, and who was martyred for his faith under Diocletian. His legendary "Acts" state that he gave himself up at Lorch to the soldiers of Aquilinus, the governor, when they were rounding up the Christians, and after making a bold confession, he was twice scourged, half-flayed alive, set on fire, and finally thrown into the river Enns with a stone around his neck. His body, recovered and buried by a pious woman, was eventually removed to the Augustinian Abbey of St. Florian, near Linz. It is said to have been at a later date translated to Rome, and Pope Lucius III, in 1138, gave some of the saint's relics to King Casimir of Poland and to the Bishop of Cracow. Since that time, St. Florian is the patron of Po...