Firefighters to celebrate St. Florian Feast Day

05 May 2011

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) will celebrate the Feast Day of St. Florian, the Patron Saint of firefighters on May 6, 2011.
 
In line with this, the BFP National Headquarters has daily Novena Mass which started last April 25 until May 6. The Masses are officiated by the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines (MOP) Chaplains from the different branches of service.

On the Feast day, a Mass Baptism (Binyagang Bayan) and a Mass Confirmation (Kumpilang Bayan) will be held at the Conference Room of the BFP-NHQ in Quezon City.

St. Florian lived in the time of the Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, and was commander of the imperial army in the Roman province of Noricum, now part of Austria. In addition to his military duties, he was also responsible for organizing firefighting brigades.

When the Roman regime sought to eradicate Christianity, St. Florian refused to follow the order to persecute all Christians in the area. He was twice scourged, half-flayed alive, set on fire, and finally thrown into the river Enns with a stone around his neck.

Florian is associated with brewers because of a legendary incident in which he miraculously stopped a fire with a single pitcher of water. It has been told that a person was saved from a fire by invoking St. Florian’s name. Since then, Florian has generally been regarded in most countries as the patron saint of the fire service.//