Saint Blaise
| Saint Blaise | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Bishop, Martyr | |
| Born | ?, Armenia |
| Died | c. 316 |
| Venerated in | |
| Beatified | |
| Canonized | |
| Major shrine | |
| Feast | February 3 (February 11 in Eastern Church) |
| Attributes | Wool comb, candles, tending a choking boy or animals |
| Patronage | Animals, builders, choking, veterinarians, throats, Sicily, Dalmatia, Dubrovnik, stonecutters, carvers, wool workers. |
| Blessing | Through the intercession of Saint Blaise, 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. |
Saint Blaise (or Blasius Βλάσιος) was a physician and bishop of Sebaste (modern Sivas), Armenia. He was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded.
In iconography, Blaise is often shown with the instruments of his martyrdom, iron combs. The similarity of these instruments of torture to wool combs led to his adoption as patron of wool combers in particular, and the wool trade in general.
Blaise is traditionally believed to intercede in cases of throat illnesses, especially for fish-bones stuck in the throat. Indeed, the first reference we have to him is in the medical writings of Aëtius Amidenus, who invokes his aid in treating objects stuck in the throat.
He may also be depicted with crossed candles. Such crossed candles are used for the blessing of throats on the feast day of St. Blaise, which in the Western Church falls on February 3, and in the Eastern Church on February 11.
Blaise is the patron saint of the city of Dubrovnik (where he is known as Sveti Vlaho). He is believed to have appeared in a vision in 971 to warn the inhabitants of an impending attack by the Venetians.
In Russia, St. Vlasü is the patron saint of herds.
His cult became widespread in Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries. Indeed, the council of Oxford in 1222 forbade all work on his festival. In Italy he is known as San Biaggio, and in Cornwall the village of St Blazey derives from his name, although the parish church is dedicated to Saint Blaise. He is venerated as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
In England in the 18th and 19th centuries Blaise was adopted as mascot of woolworkers' pageants, particularly in Essex, Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Norwich. The popular enthusiasm for the saint is explained by the belief that Blaise had brought prosperity (as symbolised by the Woolsack) to England by teaching the English to comb wool. According to the tradition as recorded in broadsheets, Blaise came from Jersey. Jersey was certainly a centre of export of woollen goods (as witnessed by the name jersey for the woollen textile). However, this legend is probably the result of confusion with a different saint, Blasius of Caesarea (Caesarea being also the Latin name of Jersey).
There is a church dedicated to Saint Blaise in the Devon hamlet of Haccombe, near Newton Abbot and another at Milton near Abingdon in the Royal County of Berkshire. This is one of the country's smallest churches. It is located next to Haccombe house which is the family home of the Carew family, descendants of the captain of the Mary Rose at the time of her sinking. One curious fact associated with this church is that its "vicar" goes by the title of "Archpriest".
According to Brand's Popular Antiquities (1813), in areas of the English countryside it was the custom to light bonfires on St. Blaise's feast day, February 3 - evidently inspired by the sound of the word blaze.
He lends his name to the Armenian Order of Saint Blaise and many churches, including the former Abbey of St. Blasius in the Black Forest.
In Spanish-speaking countries, he is known as San Blas, and has lent his name to many places (see San Blas).
The acts of St. Blaise
The acts of St. Blaise, written in Greek, do not appear to be authentic. (E.-H. Vollet, in the Grande Encyclopédie s.v. Blaise (Saint)) The legend they contain is as follows:
Blaise, who had studied philosophy in his youth, was a doctor in Sebaste in Armenia, the city of his birth, who exercised his art with miraculous ability, good-will, and piety. When the bishop of the city died, he was chosen to succeed him, with the acclamation of all the people. His holiness was manifest through many miracles: from all around, people came to him to find cures for their spirit and their body; even wild animals came in herds to receive his blessing. In 316, Agricola, the governor of Cappadocia and of Lesser Armenia, having arrived in Sebastea at the order of the emperor Licinius to kill the Christians, arrested the bishop. As he was being led to prison, a mother set her only son, choking to death of a fish-bone, at his feet, and the child was cured straight away. Regardless, the governor, unable to make Blaise renounce his faith, beat him with a stick, ripped his flesh with iron combs, and beheaded him.
