Saint Florian of Lorch
Also known as
- Floriano
Profile
Third century officer in Roman army stationed in modern Austria. Military administrator of the town of Noricum, and a closet Christian. Said to have stopped a town from burning by praying and throwing a single bucket of water on the blaze, and thus his association with firefighters and those who protect us from fire, including chimney sweeps. When ordered to execute a group of Christians during the persecutions of Diocletian, he refused, and professed his own faith. Martyr.
- scourged, flayed alive, a stone tied to his neck, and dumped into a river c.304
- body later retrieved by Christians and buried at an Augustinian monastery near Lorch
- relics translated to Rome in 1138
- part of the relics given to King Casimir of Poland and the bishop of Cracow by Pope Lucius III, which led to Florian’s patronage of Poland and Upper Austria
- against battle
- against drowning
- against fire
- against flood
- drowning victims
- harvests
- –
- barrel-makers
- blacksmiths
- brewers
- chimney sweeps
- coopers
- fire prevention
- firefighters
- soap-boilers
- stove makers
- Worshipful Company of Firefighters
- Austria
- Poland
- in Austria
- Linz, Austria, city of
- Linz, Austria, diocese of
- Sankt Florian, city of
- Sankt Florian Monastery
- Floriano, Castelfranco Veneto, Italy
- bearded warrior with a lance and tub
- boy with a millstone
- classical warrior leaning on a millstone, pouring water on a fire
- dead man on a millstone guarded by an eagle
- dead man whose body is being protected by an eagle
- man being beaten
- man on a journey with a hat and staff
- man thrown into a river with a millstone around his neck
- man with a palm in his hand and a burning torch under his feet
- man with a sword
- young man, sometimes in armor, sometimes unarmed, pouring water from a tub on a burning church
MLA Citation
- “Saint Florian of Lorch“. CatholicSaints.Info. 3 May 2024. Web. 18 May 2024. <>