St. Florian of Lorch

St. Florian of Lorch (died c. 304) was a senior officer in the Roman army stationed in the province of Noricum, in present-day Austria. According to his traditional acts, during the persecution under Emperor Diocletian he refused to carry out orders to suppress Christians and instead openly professed his own faith. Arrested and condemned, he was scourged and finally thrown into the river Enns with a millstone tied around his neck.

His relics were venerated at the abbey of St. Florian near Linz, one of the oldest monasteries in Austria, and his cult spread widely through central Europe and Poland. Because tradition also credits him with once having extinguished a great fire through prayer, he became the patron of firefighters, chimney sweeps, and those who battle blazes and floods, and remains a beloved protector in Austria, Bavaria, and Poland.