St. Florian,
a Teuton by race, was a commander of the imperial army in the time of Diocletian
and Maximian, who led the policy of severe persecution of Christians. They
issued an edict to all the provinces and kingdoms, that Christians should
be put to death. Many faithful to Christ people were arrested; even under
tortures they refused to betray their faith. St. Florian put himself in
the hands of the Roman persecutors in hope to share the fate of Christ and
many of His followers. He smiled under tortures, saying that his tormentors
have power only over his body and not over his soul. After many tortures
he was thrown from a bridge with a heavy rock on his neck into a river and
drowned. Although the martyr fell to the bottom, an amazing wave seized
his venerable corpse as he fell, and raising itself up, it deposited him
at the peak of a rock. Then a certain religious widow by the name of Valeria
carried away his body and buried it secretly. |
