SAINT FEAST DAY 17 NOVEMBER: ST FLORINUS

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN NOVEMBER 

Saints celebrated on the 17th of November

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST FLORINUS, PRIEST

Saint Florinus (Florin) was born in the 8th century, probably in Mazia in Malles, in South Tyrol.

His father is said to have been an Anglo-Saxon and his mother a baptised Jewish woman, and they are believed to have met on a pilgrimage to Rome. On the way home, they settled in the beautiful Val Venosta.

HE BECAME A PRIEST

Florinus was raised by the parish priest Alexander in the parish of St Peter in Remüs (today Ramosch) in Unterengadin in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland and was ordained a priest himself as a young man. 

He took over the parish of St Peter in Remüs. 

He died on November 17, possibly in 856, in Remüs, Switzerland and was buried in his parish church of St Peter. 

MANY MIRACLES HAPPENED AT HIS TOMB

In the time that followed, many miracles happened at his tomb, making the church a place of pilgrimage. His memorial day is the day of his death on November 17, while the celebration of the transfer of his relics to Chur is celebrated on August 7 and to Trier on December 18. 

Together with St Lucius of Chur, he has been the patron saint of the diocese of Chur since the 11th century, and he is also the patron saint of the cathedral of Vaduz in Liechtenstein.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)