Feast of St. Blase

Today is the feast of St. Blase, a bishop and martyr who died in Armenia in the early 4th century. Not much is known about his life, but for a little background on the life and legend of St. Blase, please click here.

On this medal you can see two symbols commonly associated with St. Blase. The story goes that as he was being taken to prison for his faith, a mother brought her child (who was choking on a fishbone) to him, and the good Bishop saved the boy's life.  As a result, St. Blase is the patron saint of diseases of the throat and a Catholic custom is to have our throats blessed using candles (symbol #2) on or near his feast day.

As you can see in this photo I pulled off the internet (people, place and date unknown), the blessing is offered (by a priest, deacon or extraordinary minister of holy communion) with two candles (unlit!) around the neck and this (or a similar) prayer:

By the intercession of St. Blase, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from ailments of the throat and from every other evil. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This popular observance falls under the umbrella of 'custom and tradition' rather than 'Tradition or doctrine'. In the dead of winter with so much potential for cold and flu, we can use all the help we can get, right?! After all the masses this weekend, blessing of throats will be offered. Maybe if you share the story of St. Blase with your children, the blessing will mean even more to them.