St Blase – Communio

Saint Blase

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday after Candlemas and we both lamented the diminishment of a lively devotional life for Catholics. Today’s feast of Saint Blase and the blessing of throats would be a part of that lively devotional life. I would claim —not scientifically, mind you— that many Catholics don’t know of Saint Blase and the laudable custom of blessing throats even though he gets a nominal mention in places. In the medieval Christianity the faithful’s cult of Blaise was arguably one of the most popular. England, once-upon-a-time, had a national holiday devoted to Saint Blaise and it is said that in the Diocese of Rome there were 35 churches dedicated to Saint Blase.

Our liturgical memorial of Saint Blase recognizes that the saint was an Armenian physician who as elected as the bishop of Sebaste (currently called Sivas, Turkey). Facing martyrdom because of his Christian confession, he was beaten, scraped with iron carding combs, and finally beheaded in AD 317. The holy bishop-martyr is a great reminder that following the Lord is not easy but possible.

Blase is the patron of those living with diseases of the throat, wool combers and wool traders, and he is one of the patrons of physicians. Tradition tells us that Saint Blaise cured a boy who was dying of a fish-bone stuck in his throat. Priests bless the throats of Catholics on his feast day at Mass.

Don’t let today go by without asking for the intercession of Saint Blase.

Blessing of Throats on the feast of Saint Blaise

Hear, O Lord, the supplications your people make under the patronage of the Martyr Saint Blaise, and grant that they may rejoice in peace in this present life and find help for life eternal.

(the Collect at Mass)

From the Roman Martyrology we read:

At Sebaste in Armenia [in the 4th century], in the time of the governor Agricolaus, the passion of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr, who, after working many miracles, was scourged for a long time, suspended from a tree where his flesh was lacerated with iron combs. He was then imprisoned in a dark dungeon, thrown into a lake from which he came out safe, and finally, by order of the judge, he and two boys were beheaded. Before him, seven women who were gathering the drops of his blood during his torture, were recognized as Christians, and after undergoing severe torments, were put to death by the sword.

The Order of Blessing of candles for the blessing of throats is noted here.

You may ask why get your throat blessed. I’d ask, if you were truly Catholic, why would you NOT have your throat blessed on this feast day. As the Church prays today, we praise God for the gift of staying close to him in times of persecution –that we don’t weaken in faith in Christ Jesus our Savior. Through the intercession of Blaise, a 4th century witness to Christ who was known to be a physician, bishop and martyr may we come closer to the Lord and in doing so, tell others about Him. The blessing of throats as such is not that important. What is important the recognition that all things come from God the Father through Jesus under the power of the Holy Spirit. The blessing of throats is a dynamic example of begging of God to bestow grace upon us. Here is the sacramentality. Here is the mission-focus of our faith: Grace comes into our context. Who doesn’t need grace? Who would be so full of pride and laziness not to approach the Throne of Grace asking for help and love?

Saint Blase and the Blessing of Throats

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.

Blessing of Bread, Wine, Water and Fruit for the Feast of Saint Blase

Blessing of Bread, Wine, Water and Fruit

for the relief of throat ailments on the Feast of Saint Blase, Bishop and Martyr

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.

V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with your spirit.

O God, Savior of the world, Who did consecrate this day with the martyrdom of the most venerable Blase, granting him among other gifts the power of healing all who are afflicted with throat ailments; we humbly beseech Your boundless mercy, and beg that these fruits, bread, wine, and water, which Your devoted people today, be blessed + and sanctified + by Your goodness. May they who taste thereof be fully healed of all afflictions of the throat, as well as every infirmity of soul or body, through the prayers and merits of the same Blase, Pontiff and Martyr. You who live and reign God, forevermore.

R. Amen.

The items are sprinkled with holy water.

Blessing of Candles on the feast of Saint Blase

Blessing of Candles on the feast of Saint Blase,
Bishop & Martyr

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

R. Who made heaven
and earth.

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And with your spirit.

Let us pray.

O God
of gentleness and might, by You Word alone You did create the manifold things
of the world, and did cause this same Word, Maker of all things, to take flesh
in order to repurchase us. You are great and wonderful, awesome and
praiseworthy, a doer of wonderful deeds. Wherefore, in professing his fealty to
You, the glorious martyr and bishop, Blasé did not fear any manner of torment,
but gladly accepted the palm of martyrdom. In virtue of which, among other
gifts, You did bestow on him this prerogative -of healing all ailments of the
throat. Thus we beg Your Majesty that overlooking our guilt, and considering
only his merits and intercession You world grant to bless + and sanctify + and
bestow Your grace on these candles. Let all Christians of good faith whose
necks are touched with them be healed of every malady of the throat, and being
restored in health and cheer, let them return thanks in Your holy Church, and
give praise to Your wondrous name which is blessed forever. Through our Lord,
Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, God, eternally.

R. Amen.

The candles are sprinkled with holy water. Then
the pries, holding two crossed candles to the throat of each one to be blessed,
as they kneel before the altar, says:

Through the intercession of Saint Blase,
Bishop and Martyr, may God deliver you from sickness of the throat and from
every other evil. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.

Saint Blase

O God, Who does gladden us by the annual solemnity of blessed Blase, Thy Martyr and Bishop; mercifully grant that we may rejoice in the protection of him whose heavenly birth we celebrate.

Jesus Christ cares for the ill and the Church, the sacrament of Christ on earth, continues the mission of Christ of healing by asking God to do the loving thing: to heal the sick according to His holy Will. One of the most ancient and revered customs in the Church, therefore, is the offering of prayer and doing fitting good works for the sick to relieve greatest burdens which afflict the human body and spirit.

The ministry of the Church is not what heals or saves someone because on its own it has no such power; it is the faith in the power of the Lord Jesus whose grace provides comfort to the sick; it is the Lord who heals and it is Holy Spirit which works through human agency. And in all that, we believe that our sufferings are connected to (identified with) the sufferings of Christ for the salvation of sinners. As the Pope said recently, “Jesus suffered and died on the cross for love. In this way He gave meaning to our own suffering, a meaning that many men and women of all ages have understood and made their own, thus experiencing profound serenity even amid the bitterness of harsh physical and moral trials”.

Still, it is the will of God that believers should pray for the blessing of good health so that they might engage fully in sharing the knowledge and love of God to the world in which they live. Let’s be clear: God wants us to be happy here, right now. It is important to remember that these prayers offered by Christ’s faithful people remind us of the Lord’s special care and compassion for the sick and infirm and that it is ultimately God’s Will that is followed.

Saint Blase was bishop of Sebaste in what is present day Armenia during the fourth century. We know little about his life yet there are numerous accounts which suggest that he practiced medicine before converting to Jesus Christ and becoming a bishop. He is reputed to have miraculously cured a little child who almost died because of a fishbone in the throat.

From about the eighth century to the present, the Church has liturgicall remembered Saint Blase and has been imparted an annual blessing of the sick, especially those who suffer ailments of the throat.

The blessing is typically given by touching the throat of each person with two candles blessed on the preceding day, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.

The blessing of the throat is imparted by the ordained and in some cases, a lay minister may perform the blessing without making the sign of the cross. If imparted during Mass, it usually follows the homily and general intercessions. Some priests offer the blessing in place of the final blessing of the Mass. BUT the intercession of Saint Blase is not limited to today’s liturgical memorial and it is encouraged to request the blessing at other times to those who suffer from illness or diseases of the throat.

The Blessing:

Through the intercession of Saint Blase, 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.