Saint Blaise

Did You Know?

• The first reference to Blaise appears in the medical writings of Aëtius Amidenus around AD 500, where his aid is invoked for patients with objects stuck in the throat.
• Marco Polo reported on the place where Blaise obtained martyrdom, Sebastea, and the shrine near the citadel mount was mentioned by William of Rubruck in 1253.
• Multiple relics of Blaise exist, including at least four heads, several jaws, and at least eight arms, as noted by Collin de Plancy in 1822.

Acts of St Blaise

The legendary Acts of St Blaise were composed about four hundred years after his death. According to the narrative, Blaise studied philosophy in his youth and practiced medicine in Sebaste, his birthplace, performing cures with miraculous ability and piety. Upon the death of the city's bishop, he was chosen as successor by popular acclamation. His holiness attracted people seeking healing for spirit and body, and wild animals came in herds for his blessing. While being led to jail, a mother placed her only son, choking on a fish bone, at his feet, and the child was instantly cured. Unable to make Blaise renounce his faith, the governor had him beaten, his flesh torn with iron combs, and then beheaded. On the way back to Sebastea, Blaise commanded a wolf to restore a poor woman's pig alive and unhurt. Later, that woman visited him in prison, bringing two fine wax candles.

Blessing of St Blaise

According to the Acts, while Blaise was being taken into custody, a distraught mother whose only child was choking on a fish bone implored his intercession, and his prayers cured the child. Saint Blaise is traditionally invoked for protection against throat injuries and illnesses. On his feast day, the blessing of St Blaise is given: two candles, sometimes lit and blessed on Candlemas, are held in a cross formation by a priest over the faithful or touched to their throats. The blessing asks for deliverance from every disease of the throat and from every other illness, followed by the sign of the cross.

Veneration of Saint Blaise

Blaise became one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In the West, no group honored him before the 8th century; his following spread across Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries, and his legend appears in the 13th-century Legenda Aurea. He is the saint of the wild beast and patron of the Armenian Order of Saint Blaise. In Italy he is known as San Biagio, in Spanish-speaking countries as San Blas, and in Portugal and Brazil as São Brás. Many German churches, including the former Abbey of St Blasius in the Black Forest and the church of Balve, are dedicated to him. Saint Blaise is the patron saint of Dubrovnik and was formerly protector of the independent Republic of Ragusa. His feast is celebrated yearly on 3 February with relics paraded in reliquaries, including his skull, a bit of bone from his throat, and his right and left hands. Festivities begin on Candlemas with the release of white doves. Chroniclers attribute his veneration in Dubrovnik to a vision in 971 warning of an impending Venetian attack, in which Blaise appeared as an old man with a long beard, bishop's mitre, and staff. His effigy remained on Dubrovnik's state seal and coinage until the Napoleonic era.

Iconography

In iconography, Blaise is represented holding two crossed candles in his hand, or in a cave surrounded by wild beasts as found by the governor's hunters. He is often shown with steel combs, the instruments of his martyrdom, whose resemblance to wool combs led to his adoption as patron saint of wool combers and the wool trade. Crossed candles are used for the blessing of throats on his feast day, 3 February, the day after Candlemas on the General Roman Calendar. Blaise is traditionally believed to intercede in cases of throat illnesses, especially fish bones stuck in the throat, and is also invoked for protection against obstructive sleep apnea.