St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr
Feast Day February 3rd
Saint Blaise was the bishop of Sebastea and a doctor. The
first known record of the saint's life comes from the medical writings of
Aëtius Amidenus, where he is recorded as helping with patients suffering from
objects stuck in their throat. Many of the miraculous aspects of St. Blaise's
life are written of 400 years after his martyrdom in the "Acts of St.
Blaise."
Saint Blaise is believed to begin as a healer then,
eventually, became a "physician of souls." He then retired to a cave,
where he remained in prayer. People often turned to Saint Blaise for healing
miracles.
In 316, the governor of Cappadocia and of Lesser Armenia,
Agricola, arrested then-bishop Blaise for being a Christian. On their way to
the jail, a woman set her only son, who was chocking to death on a fish bone,
at his feet.
Blaise cured the child, and though Agricola was amazed, he
could not get Blaise to renounce his faith. Therefore, Agricola beat Blaise
with a stick and tore at his flesh with iron combs before beheading him.
In another tale, Blaise was being led to the prison in
Sebastea, and on the way came across a poor old woman whose pig had been stolen
by a wolf. Blaise commanded the wolf return the pig, which it did -alive and
uninjured - to the amazement of all.
When he reached Sebastea, the woman came to him and brought
two fine wax candles in an attempt to dispel the gloom of his darkened cell.
In the Middle Ages, Blaise became quite popular and his
legend as a beast tamer spread. He was then referred to as the "saint of
the wild beast."
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| St. Blaise in Medieval Art |
Prayer to St. Blasé (Blaise, Blaize)
O glorious Saint Blase, who by thy martyrdom has left to the
Church a precious witness to the faith, obtain for us the grace to preserve
within ourselves this divine gift, and to defend, without human respect, both
by word and example, the truth of that same faith, which is so wickedly
attacked and slandered in these our times. Thou who didst miraculously cure a
little child when it was at the point of death by reason of an affliction of
the throat, grant us thy powerful protection in like misfortunes; and, above
all, obtain for us the grace of Christian mortification together with a
faithful observance of the precepts of the Church, which may keep us from
offending Almighty God. Amen.
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| Blessing of Throats on Feast of St. Blaise February 3 |
Blessing
of Throats
PRAYER
OF BLESSING
With
the crossed candles touched to the throat of each person, the celebrant says
immediately:
Through
the intercession of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from
every disease of the throat and from every other illness:
In
the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit.
