May 4 + Saint Florian

Born in 250 AD, Florian was a commander in the Roman army serving under the Emperor Diocletian in present-day Austria. Among his duties was the organization of firefighting brigades. He was secretly a Christian and became famous for miraculously saving a town from being destroyed by fire; after he prayed and threw a single bucket of water on the blaze, it was extinguished.

Word reached the Emperor that he was not enforcing the ban against Christianity in his territory, and under investigation he was found to be a Christian. He was then condemned to be tortured and executed for his Christian faith. Refusing to recant his faith, Florian was twice scourged, flayed alive, set on fire, and finally thrown into the river Enns with a stone around his neck.

His body was later recovered and today his relics rest at a church named for him in Poland. St. Florian is the patron saint of firefighters, chimney-sweeps and drowning victims and is often invoked when in danger of floods, fires, and battles.