May 4--St. Florian, Martyr

 

St. Florian

The Catholic Church has patron saints for just about everything under the sun: animals–St. Francis of Assisi; Catholic schools–St. Thomas Aquinas; actors–St. Genesius; soldiers–St. George; bakers–St. Elizabeth of Hungary; and today’s saint, St. Florian, patron of firefighters. St. Florian was born in AD 250 in present-day Austria. He joined the Roman army and was in charge of fire brigades as part of his duties. He became a Christian, was discovered, arrested, and sentenced to be burned at the stake in 304 under the persecution of Emperor Diocletian. “Standing on the funeral pyre, Florian is reputed to have challenged the Roman soldiers to light the fire, saying ‘If you wish to know that I am not afraid of your torture, light the fire, and in the name of the Lord I will climb onto it.’ Apprehensive of his words, the soldiers did not burn Florian, but executed him by drowning him in the Enns River with a millstone tied around his neck instead.”

The reason we have patron saints is because they are men, women, and children to whom we can relate, whether because of their lives, their jobs, their circumstances, their deaths or what have you! Patron saints are people who we appeal to for help because we can relate to their experiences and we know they can relate to ours. St. Florian was a firefighter and a martyr. He lived his faith through his life and through his death. People look to us as role models as well! We are husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, workers, victims of illness or accidents. We need to live our faith through our lives. We can guide others and pray for them as their patrons, just as the patron saints guide us and pray for us. St. Florian, patron of firefighters, pray for us!

April 13–St. Martin I, Pope and Martyr

 

Pope St. Martin I by Carlo Laurentis, CC-4.0.

What happens when one does the right thing for the right reason in the right way but then is arrested, convicted, and exiled? He, St. Martin I, becomes the last pope to be martyred. Pope St. Martin I became pope in AD 649. What he did that got him arrested and martyred in 653 by the emperor was to condemn the heresy of Monothelitism, which the emperor supported.

Monothelitism stated that Jesus had only one will, a divine will, but not a human will. This was over 200 years after the Council of Chalcedon adopted the Tome of Pope St. Leo the Great, which had declared that Jesus Christ was one divine person with two natures, one divine and one human. To say that Jesus had one divine will is to deny him a human will and thus any human freedom in what he did or said. To say that he had only a divine will means that he was not really human because humans have a human will. Another problem with Monothelitism is that if Jesus only had a divine will then our human will is not saved. “What is not assumed is not saved,” according to St. Athanasius. God not only became incarnate by assuming human nature, but also by assuming all that it means to be human, and that means having a human will!

St. Martin I taught the truth and suffered: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me’” (Mt. 16:24). We are all called to love, to take up our crosses, and follow Jesus. This will lead to suffering, but we offer it up in turn to Jesus, who loves and strengthens us. Pope St. Martin I, pray for us.