Bishop of Sebaste and martyr, invoked for ailments of the throat · Feast: 3 February
Open in the Daily Word app“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD rescues them from them all.” Psalm 34:19
St Blaise was bishop of Sebaste in historic Armenia, the present-day city of Sivas in Turkey. He is believed to have died as a martyr early in the fourth century, about 316, during the persecution under the emperor Licinius. Very little about him can be established with certainty. The written accounts of his life come from some centuries after his death, and they mix memory with popular storytelling.
Those accounts describe him as a physician before he became a bishop, a man who cared for bodies as well as souls. When persecution broke out he is said to have withdrawn to a cave in the hills, from which he continued to guide his people. Hunters sent to find animals for the arena are said to have discovered him there and brought him before the governor.
According to the same accounts he refused to deny Christ, was tortured with the iron combs used for carding wool, and was finally beheaded. That detail made him the patron of wool combers. His cult spread widely in East and West from about the eighth century. The Eastern Churches of Greek tradition keep his memory on 11 February, and the Roman calendar on 3 February. He is counted among the Fourteen Holy Helpers of medieval devotion, and the city of Dubrovnik has long honoured him as its patron.
He is best known today through the blessing of throats. In many parishes, on or around his feast, two candles blessed the day before at the feast of the Presentation of the Lord are held crossed at the throat while a prayer is said for his intercession. This is a sacramental, not a charm. As the Catechism teaches (CCC 1670), sacramentals prepare us through the prayer of the Church to receive grace and to cooperate with it. The blessing does not replace a doctor, and it asks that God may protect us from illness and every evil.
The tradition remembers a healer of bodies who also became a shepherd of souls.
He accepted death rather than deny Christ.
A sacramental leads us to trust in God, not in an object.
A healthy throat is for praising God and speaking kindly and truthfully.
The best-known story tells that on his way to prison Blaise met a mother whose son was choking on a fishbone. He prayed over the boy and the child was healed. From this comes the custom of asking his prayers for ailments of the throat.
Another story says that a wolf had carried off a poor woman's only pig. Blaise commanded the wolf to return it, and it did. When the bishop was in prison, the grateful woman brought him food and candles to light his cell. The candles of the blessing are often linked with this story.
The accounts of his life say that wild animals came to his cave without fear, and that he blessed them and treated the sick among them. Hunters found him there, which led to his arrest.
Through the intercession of St 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.
Roman blessing of throats, in substance
The tradition remembers a physician who gave his life for Christ.
A sacramental is the prayer of the Church, not a charm.
Words of praise, truth and kindness.
Dear friends, we know little for certain about St Blaise. We know that he was a bishop in the East, that he died for Christ in a time of persecution, and that Christians have asked his prayers for many centuries. Around that memory grew stories, such as the story of a boy choking on a fishbone who was healed by the bishop's prayer. We receive these stories as stories, but the faith they express is true: God cares about our bodies, our sickness and our fear.
The psalm tells us that the righteous have many afflictions, and that the Lord rescues them from them all (Psalm 34:19). Blaise was not spared suffering. He was rescued in the deepest way, through death into life with Christ. Christian hope does not promise a life without illness. It promises that no illness and no death can separate us from God.
This helps us to understand the blessing of throats. Candles and a prayer do not work like a medicine, and they do not excuse us from going to a doctor. A blessing is the prayer of the whole Church, offered in faith, asking God to protect us and to make us better disciples. Let us receive every blessing in that spirit, and with the same faith with which we come to the Holy Mass / Holy Qurbana.
Then let us ask a practical question: what comes out of this throat? Words of prayer, or only complaint? Words that heal, or words that wound? Today let us pray for those with illnesses of the throat and of the voice, for doctors and nurses, and for ourselves, that our speech may build up those who hear us. Amen.
Lord God, hear the prayer of your people through the intercession of St Blaise, bishop and martyr. Protect us from sickness of body and soul, and let our voices always praise you and speak what is true and kind. Amen.