Saint Florian

Florian was a Roman army officer in the province of Noricum, in what is now Austria, during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian. According to the account of his martyrdom, when he learned that Christians were being arrested at Lauriacum, near modern Enns, he went there and openly declared that he too was a Christian. He refused to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods, was beaten, and on May 4, 304, was thrown into the Enns River with a stone tied around his neck.

Christians recovered his body and buried it, and the great Augustinian abbey of Sankt Florian near Linz later grew up over the site associated with his tomb. A legend says he once put out a burning village with a single bucket of water, and so artists show him as a soldier pouring water on a burning house. His cult spread through Austria, Bavaria and Poland, especially after relics were brought to Kraków in 1184.

Fire departments in Austria, Germany, Poland and many other countries hold Masses, parades and the blessing of fire trucks around May 4, which is also International Firefighters' Day. In the United States and Latin America, the Saint Florian cross is a common emblem among firefighters.