Saint Blaise

Catholic Saint

st.Blaise-Bishop of Sebaste, Turkey; martyr

Feast Day : February 3

Patronage: builders; cattle; doctors; hat makers; hosiery workers; against neck complaints; pets; plasterers; shoemakers; stone carvers; tanners; against throat disorders; veterinarians; weavers; wild animals; wind musicians; wool dealers

Also known as: Blase

Blaise, a philosopher and physician, was elected bishop of Sebaste and then was forced to flee during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305). Tradition holds that he retired to a cave on Mt. Argeus. Throngs of people came to see him for his miraculous cures; even wild animals sought him out. After Diocletian, persecutions continued under Emperor Licinius Licinianus (r. 308–324). Governor Agricolaus of Cappadocia was ordered to arrest Christians and feed them to wild beasts. Hunters sent out to capture the animals found Blaise; he was arrested and taken to Agricolaus. En route weeping followers of Blaise gathered to ask his blessing as he passed by. One such person was a woman who thrust at him her child, dying of a small fish bone stuck in his throat. Blaise healed the boy with prayer.

Blaise refused to renounce his faith and was scourged and imprisoned. The saint remained placid and in good humor, and continued to work miracles from his cell. The infuriated governor ordered him to be lacerated with iron hooks. Certain holy women were induced to collect his blood. They were rounded up with two of their children and ordered to perform sacrifices to the gods. They asked for the idols, but flung the statues into a lake. The women and their children were beheaded. Blaise was then hideously tortured. He was stretched on a rack, had his flesh torn with iron combs, and endured a red-hot coat of mail laid upon him. Agricolaus ordered him tossed into the lake. Legend has it that Blaise walked on water to the middle of the lake, sat down, and urged the pagans to do the same if they believed in their gods. Some tried and were drowned. A voice from heaven told Blaise to accept his martyrdom. He returned to land and was beheaded. Blaise’s relics are in numerous cities, including Brunswick, Mainz, Lübeck, Trier and Cologne in Germany; Taranto, Milan and Rome in Italy; Paray-le- Monial in France; and Dubrovnik in Croatia. On the day of Blaise’s feast, throats are blessed and candles lit, in commemoration of the healing of the boy. Blaise is invoked against throat and neck complaints.