Lord, hear the prayers of Your martyr Blase. Give us the joy of Your peace in this life and help us to gain the happiness that will never end.
The Church has few exact details of the life of Saint Blase (also Blaise, Biago, Sveti Vlaho) but we have the experience of his popularity through the centuries in the churches of the East and West. What we know is that Blase was a physician, the Bishop of Sebaste, Armenia and martyr. The Roman Martyrology tells us that he was beheaded in 316.
More info on Saint Blase is found here and here.
The Blessing of Candles on the feast of St Blase can be found here.
The Blessing of Bread, Wine, Water and Fruit for the feast.
From the Golden
Legend again:
And when this good widow, which by S. Blase had recovered
her swine, heard thereof, she slew it, and the head and the feet with a little
bread and a candle, she brought to S. Blase, and he thanked God and ate
thereof, and he said to her that every year she should offer in his church a
candle, and know thou that to thee and to all them that so shall do shall well
happen to them, and so she did all her life, and she had much great prosperity.
Even
after imprisonment, he refused to worship the prince's gods, and for punishment
his flesh torn by wool combs. He was finally beheaded, martyred along with seven
women and two children.
Today, due to the cure of the boy's throat when the boy
was choking, Saint Blase is patron against diseases or any other trouble of the throat.
The priest will bless two candles in honor of Saint Blase.
In the Latin Church there are several forms of celebrating the Sacrament of Baptism. Most Catholics today are familiar with the Rite of Baptism done according to the reforms of Pope Paul VI. Other Catholics follow the Traditional form according to the Rituale Romanum. This booklet follows this older form of the ritual.
