May 4
Saints of the Day

Born near Vilnius, Lithuania, he worked with bronze and silver and created sacred vessels, including chalices.

    He traveled to Cracow Poland, where he joined the Augustinians. He received permission to live the life of a hermit in a cell adjoining the monastery.

Saint Florian, d. 304
A roman soldier martyred by Diocletian because the profession of his faith.

Died c.304; scourged, flayed alive, a stone tied to his neck, and dumped into a river; body later retreived by Christians and buried at an Augustinian monastery near Lorch; relics translated to Rome in 1138; part of the relics given to King Casimir of Poland and the bishop of Cracow by Pope Lucius III, which led to Florian's patronage of Poland and Upper Austria

Images Gallery of images of Saint Florian [6 images, kb]

Additional Information

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintf05.htm

Saint John Houghton, 1487-1535
In 1534 this Carthusian was the first person to oppose King Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy. Imprisoned with Blessed Humphrey Middlemore.

    First person martyred under the Tudor persections, dying with Blessed John Haile and three others. One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Born 1487 at Essex, England

Died hanged, drawn, and quartered on 4 May 1535 at Tyburn, England; body was chopped to pieces and put on display around London as an example to others

Beatified 9 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII Canonized 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI

Additional Information http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj5v.htm