Minias of Florence

Holy Martyr Minias of Florence (Miniato) is venerated as the first Christian martyr of Florence; he was put to death around 250, in the persecution of Decius. He is a saint of the undivided Church.

According to the calendar sources he was a soldier who spread the faith among his comrades. A legend makes him an Armenian prince or king, serving in the Roman army or on pilgrimage to Rome, who had settled as a hermit near Florence. Denounced as a Christian, he was brought before the emperor Decius and refused to sacrifice to the gods. He was put through torments, thrown into a furnace, stoned and given to a lion or a panther in the amphitheatre, but came out unharmed. Finally he was beheaded near the present Piazza della Signoria; the legend says he picked up his head, crossed the Arno and returned to his hermitage on Mons Florentinus.

His relics rest in the crypt of the church of San Miniato al Monte, begun in 1013 by Bishop Alibrand and endowed by the emperor Henry II. The saint's historicity is uncertain. A monastery in Florence was dedicated to him.

He is commemorated on 25 October, the liturgical date in the Orthodox calendar (the same day number on the old and new calendars).