THE FEAST OF ST. BLAISE– FEB 3RD

What is known about the life of St. Blaise comes from various traditions. His feast day is celebrated in the East on Feb.11 and in the West on Feb.3. All sources agree that St. Blaise was the Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia who suffered martyrdom under Licinius about A.D. 316. He was a physician before being consecrated bishop at a young age. Eventually, he was condemned for upholding his Christian faith. By the sixth century, St. Blaise's intercession was being invoked for diseases of the throat in the East. As early as the eighth century, records attest to the veneration of St. Blaise in Europe, and he became one of the most popular saints in the spiritual life of the Middle Ages. One reason for St. Blaise's popularity was the fact that he was a physician who cured, even performing miraculous cures. Those who were sick especially with throat ailments, invoked his intercession. Eventually the custom of the blessing of throats arose where the priest held two crossed candles over the heads of the faithful or touched their throats with them while he invoked the prayer of the saint and imparted God's blessing While we invoke St. Blaise for his protection against any physical ailment of the throat, we should also ask his protection against any spiritual ailment - profanity, cursing, unkind remarks, detraction or gossip. St. James reminds us, "If a man who does not control his tongue imagines that he is devout, he is selfdeceived; his worship is pointless" (1:26). Therefore, may St. Blaise protect us from all evil, physical and spiritual, which may attack the throat. (excerpt: catholicherald.com)