Hello and welcome to St. Stories for Kids, a weekly podcast full of fun stories and

facts about the holy men and women that have come before us. I'm your host

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Today we'll be telling the story of St. Florian, whose feast is celebrated on May 4th. Florian was

born around the year 250 in what is now present-day Austria.

Back then, it was part of the Roman Empire.

Not much is known about his early life,

but we know he joined the Roman army and did very well,

quickly rising in rank.

Florian became the commander of the Imperial Army in his province

and was also in charge of training and leading a special group of soldiers

whose only job was to fight fires. Florian lived during a time of persecution of

Christians and was himself a Christian. He refused to participate and enforce the anti-Christian

laws in his territory and was reported.

Florian was asked to sacrifice to the Roman gods to prove his allegiance to the emperor,

but when he would not, he was murdered.

St Florian is the patron saint of firefighters, chimney sweeps,

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