
St. Florian - the patron saint of firemen.
He lived in the 3rd c. AC in the Roman province of Noricum, today's Austria.
It would appear that he was a Roman officer, most probably in charge of
the military fire-department. He did not approve of Diocletian's treatment
of the Christians. When he publicly confessed to be a Christian himself,
he was sentenced to death.
St. Florian has been associated with fire-fighting since the beginning of the 17th c. Towards the beginning of the 19th c., when the first voluntary fire-brigades started to appear, he became generally accepted as the firemen's patron saint, which is why his figure often appears on their equipment.