The blessing of the throat on February 3, the feast of St. Blaise, has become a popular devotion in many countries of the world. It originated with the miraculous healing by St. Blaise of a young boy with a big fishbone stuck to his throat. Many more healings of the sickness of the throat were attributed to him. St. Blaise is a martyr of the 4th century, but unfortunately, the Church knows very little about his life, except that he was born into a noble family, was educated in the Christian faith, and studied to be a doctor. He afterward became a Bishop of Sebaste, Armenia, now modern Sivas, Turkey. Because of his great love of God and his virtuous life, God gave him extraordinary graces to cure not only maladies of the body but also of the soul. People came flocking to him to be cured of their illnesses. St. Blaise died in 316, five years after the Edict of Milan was promulgated in 311 A.D. by Emperor Constantine. This Edict gave freedom to the practice of Christianity in the Roman Empire, but there was still persecution in Armenia at that time because Emperor Licinius, who governed some parts of the Eastern Roman Empire hated the Christians. To avoid persecution, Bishop Blaise went to a cave and lived there as a hermit. People came to him for healing. But one sunny day, some animal hunters discovered his cave and surprisingly saw him kneeling in prayer, surrounded by animals and beasts. Animals and beasts loved Bishop Blaise. He could command them to behave properly so he was reputed as “the beast tamer. "Upon this discovery by the hunting soldiers, the Bishop was immediately reported to the authority and was arrested. The governor of the place persuaded him to sacrifice to the idols, and when he refused, he was fiercely beaten. Then, he was tied and suspended on a tree, and using iron combs, the soldiers scratched his flesh and his body was greatly injured. Finally, when the governor failed to convince him with all sorts of promises to give up his faith, he ordered that the Bishop beheaded. Miracles followed his martyrdom and he was acclaimed as a saint. He was particularly invoked to cure the illnesses of the throat. The cult of St. Blaise soon spread out. Today, he is honored in Armenia, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Brazil, Great Britain, Croatia, Iceland, India, and other countries, including the Philippines. Many churches are named after him. In iconography, St. Blaise is represented with two candles in his hands, the instruments used when blessing the throat on his feast day. The candles used by the Church on the February 3 ceremony are blessed the previous day during the feast of the Lord’s Presentation or Candlemass. These candles tied by a red ribbon are held by a priest in a crossed position over the head of the faithful or across the throat. The red ribbon represents the martyrdom of St. Blaise. While blessing, the priest says the following prayer: “Through the intercession of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness.” The priest then makes the sign of the cross over the faithful being prayed over. It has been proven that this blessing is very effective, not only in curing throat diseases but also as protection against other illnesses. St. Blaise is also invoked as the healer of the inability to sleep, obstruction of sleep, and other sleep disorders.
