Florian

1. A martyr (saint in the Roman Catholic Church), was the son of Christian parents of Celia, and served in the Roman army at the time of the emperor Dioclesian. When the prefect Aquilinus went to Lorch to search for Christians, Florian voluntarily confessed his faith and was drowned in the Enns. A pious matron, Valeria, in pursuance of a vision, had his corpse buried at the place where subsequently the monastery of St. Florian was erected. Later, his relics were taken to Rome, and in 1183 pope Lucius III sent them to king Casimir, of Poland, and bishop Gedeon, of Cracow. Thus he became the patron saint of Poland. He is commemorated on the 4th of March. As he is particularly invoked by those in danger of fire, he is represented in Christian art with a vessel extinguishing flames.

2. One of the most celebrated Augustinian monasteries of Austria. It was erected over the grave of St. Florian ( SEE FLORIAN, 1) in the 6th century, and built anew in 1713.—Stulz, Gesch. des regulirten Chorhernn- Stiftes St. Florian (Linz, 1835).