Who is the saint of firefighters

His feast day is Sept. Florian is the patron saint of firefighters, along with chimney sweeps, soap makers and Austria. Florian, or Florianus, was a Christian in the Roman army, who lived from A. As a young man he had joined the Roman army as an ordinary legionary and was then promoted up through the ranks. He ended up as the commander of a full legion at Noricum, which is today on the borders of Austria and Slovenia.

At the time, the ancient Romans did not have a firefighting force, which seems odd given their great administrative abilities. Local fires were taken care of by people living in the neighborhood of a fire and larger conflagrations were fought by the imperial army. Florian, in addition to his military duties, organized military units to fight fires.

It was he who made the significant step to organize and to train specific army units to fight fires as their sole occupation. When the Emperor Diocletian organized his massive persecution against the Christians, word was brought back to him that the troops in Noricum were not doing much to round the unpopular group up.

Florian was accused and found guilty of being a Christian and was ordered to be burned at the stake. Taking this as a bad omen, the soldiers simply tied a rope to his neck and drowned him in the Enns River. Going from death by flames to water seems a grisly but oddly appropriate ending for a firefighter. Because of his conversion, he lost his family and property and was later martyred in Rome during the reign of Adrian. Because of his conversion, he lost his family… Read More St.

Florian St. Florian was a third century Roman citizen who had a very prestigious position in the army in Noricum; he oversaw brigades for firefighting and for military battle. He was told to make a sacrifice to the gods, but St. Florian refused and was beaten and martyred. He was told to make a sacrif… Read More. Remember me Log in. Lost your password? He was very touched by this pendant. I was very pleased with the purchase and quick delivery. In this classic depiction of Saint Florian we find his image on this pendant as that of a strong Roman soldier holding a shield.

A very good account of Saint Florian. I am a firefighter for the city of Lawrence Kansas. My wife Emily and our family live in Saint Marys Kansas where I also volunteer for the fire department. We had recently acquired 2 statues of St Florian from my brother who is currently residing in Germany. Please let us know if you have any further information on St. God bless. Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab.

After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Click to Tweet. Florian Dares to Disobey Emperor Diocletian. Florian refused. Florian died AD. His body was recovered and he was given a proper burial. Patron Saint of Firefighters and Floods. Very pleased with the quality, exactly what I wanted. You may be interested in these:.

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