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!