Florian, Heiliger#

Florian, Saint, saint's day May 4, d. Lorch (Upper Austria), May 4, 304, martyr, patron saint of the Federal Province of Upper Austria, protector against fire. At first a high official with the governor of the Roman province of Noricum. During the persecution instigated by Diocletian F. fled from Aelium Cetium (St. Poelten) to Lauriacum (Lorch), where he was drowned in the Enns river and died a martyr. He was entombed in St. Florian Monastery of the Augustinian Canons, and his mortal remains are buried in Krakow. In many churches, chapels and on memorial columns he is shown as a warrior dressed in a suit of armour and a helmet, with a water-tub and a house on fire.

Literature#