History of the Maltese Cross
The badge of a
firefighter is the Maltese Cross. This Maltese Cross is a symbol of
protection and a badge of honor. Its story is hundreds of years old.
When a courageous band of crusaders known as the Knights of St. John,
fought the Saracens for possession of the holy land, they encountered a
new weapon unknown to European warriors. It was a simple, but a horrible
device of war, it wrought excruciating pain and agonizing death upon the
brave fighters for the cross. The Saracen’s weapon was fire.
As the crusaders advanced on the walls of the city, they were struck by
glass bombs containing naphtha. When they became
saturated with the highly flammable liquid, the Saracens hurled a flaming
torch into their midst. Hundreds of the knights were burned alive; others
risked their lives to save their brothers-in-arms from dying painful,
fiery deaths.
Thus, these men became our first firefighters and the first of a long list of courageous firefighters. Their heroic efforts were recognized by fellow crusaders who awarded each here a badge of honor - a cross similar to the one firemen wear today. Since the Knights of St. John lived for close to four centuries on a little island in the Mediterranean Sea named Malta, the cross came to be known as the Maltese Cross.
The
Maltese Cross is your symbol of protection. It means that the firefighters
who wears this cross is willing to lay down their life for you just as the
crusaders sacrificed their lives for their fellow man so many years ago.
The Maltese Cross is a firefighter’s badge of honor, signifying that he/she
works in courage - a ladder rung away from death.
— Anonymous
St. Florian – The Patron Saint of firefighters
Florian was born in Austria in
the 4th century about 250 A.D. in Cetium (now in Austria). The St. Florian
commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on May 4th, was an officer of the
Roman army. He advanced in the ranks and occupied a high administrative
post in Noricum, now part of Austria. The saint suffered "death for
the Faith" in the days of Diocletian. Although he became an officer
of the Roman army, he didn't observe a "don't ask, don't tell"
policy and confessed to his Christianity in anti-Christian times.
His legendary "Acts" state that he gave himself up at Lorch
to the soldiers of Aquilinus, and the governor of Lorch, when they were
rounding up the Christians. The Emperor Diocletian was shocked to learn
that Florian did not carry out his orders to persecute all Christians in
the area, and, thus, was sentenced to death by fire. Standing on the
funeral pyre, Florian is reputed to have challenged the Roman soldiers to
light the fire, saying "If you do, I will climb to heaven on the
flames." Apprehensive to his words, instead of burning Florian, he
was flogged and flayed after making the bold confession. He was twice
scourged, half-flayed alive, set on fire, and finally thrown into the
river Enns with a stone around his neck. His body was recovered by a pious
woman, and he was buried honorably.
About 600 years later, sometime between 900-955, a monastery was
erected near Florian's tomb, and subsequently the village of St. Florian
grew up around it. His body, recovered and was eventually removed to the
Augustinian Abbey of St. Florian, near Linz. St. Florian was adopted as
patron saint of Poland after Pope Lucius III, in 1138, consented to the
request of King Casimir of Poland and to the Bishop of Cracow, to send
relics of Florian to that country. Since that time, St. Florian has been
regarded as a patron of Poland as well as of Linz, Upper Austria and of
firemen. Soon after, a person was saved from a fire by invoking St.
Florian's name. Since then, Florian has been invoked against fire and has
generally been regarded in most countries as the patron saint of the fire
service.
Florian is associated with brewers because of a legendary incident in which he miraculously stopped a fire with a single pitcher of water. He is often depicted holding a pitcher.
There has been popular devotion to St. Florian in many parts of central Europe, and the tradition as to his martyrdom, not far from the spot where the Enns flows into the Danube, is ancient and reliable. Many miracles of healing are attributed to his intercession and he is invoked as a powerful protector in danger from fire, and floods and against drowning. His feast day is May 4th.
naphtha, term usually restricted to a class of colorless, volatile, flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixtures. Obtained as one of the more volatile fractions in the fractional distillation of petroleum (when it is known as petroleum naphtha), in the fractional distillation of coal tar (coal-tar naphtha), and in a similar distillation of wood (wood naphtha), it is used widely as a solvent for various organic substances, such as fats and rubber, and in the making of varnish. Because of its dissolving property it is important as a cleaning fluid; it is also incorporated in certain laundry soaps. Coal-tar (aromatic) naphthas have greater solvent power than petroleum (aliphatic) naphthas. Originally the term naphtha designated a colorless flammable liquid obtained from the ground in Persia. Later it came to be applied to a number of other natural liquid substances having similar properties. Technically, gasoline and kerosene are considered naphthas.