Devotion to St. Blaise

Devotions

Devotion to a fourth-century bishop and martyr of Sebaste, known through legendary Acts and honored today chiefly through the annual Catholic Blessing of Throats.

Devotion to St. Blaise honors a bishop of Sebaste, in ancient Armenia, traditionally said to have been martyred around 316 during a Roman persecution, whose surviving Acts were written centuries later and are widely regarded by scholars as largely legendary in their narrative details, including the well-known story of him miraculously saving a boy choking on a fishbone. That story is the direct source of the Church’s popular Blessing of Throats, performed on or near his feast day using two crossed candles, one of the most recognizable sacramentals in the Catholic calendar. Counted among the Fourteen Holy Helpers, he is honored today especially for protection of the throat and against illnesses of the throat, with his feast kept on February 3.

Quick Facts

  • Category: Saint-Associated Devotions — Named Saint Devotions
  • Origin: The cultus of a fourth-century bishop-martyr of Sebaste, Armenia, elaborated in Acts composed centuries after his reported death and widely regarded as largely legendary
  • Feast: February 3
  • Church status: A permitted and established saint devotion; Blaise is counted among the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and his feast remains on the General Roman Calendar as an optional memorial
  • Private revelation: Not dependent on private revelation; devotion rests on his hagiography and long liturgical custom rather than a reported apparition

What Is This Devotion?

Devotion to St. Blaise centers on the Blessing of Throats, a sacramental rite performed in Catholic parishes on or near his February 3 feast, in which a priest or deacon holds two crossed candles near a person’s throat while praying for deliverance from illnesses of the throat and “every other evil.” The practice draws directly on the best-known episode of his legend, and it remains one of the most widely observed saint-specific blessings in ordinary Catholic parish life, drawing many people who might not otherwise attend a weekday Mass.

Origin and History

According to the tradition recorded in his Acts, Blaise was a physician who became bishop of Sebaste, in the Roman province of Armenia, and withdrew to live as a hermit in a mountain cave during a persecution, where wild animals reportedly came to him for healing without harming one another. He was discovered by hunters, arrested, and, according to the legend, subjected to torture with iron combs before being beheaded, traditionally dated to around 316, during the persecution associated with the Emperor Licinius. The famous fishbone episode — a mother bringing her son, who was choking to death on a fishbone, to Blaise for a miraculous cure on the way to his martyrdom — belongs to this same legendary tradition.

The earliest surviving Acts of St. Blaise were composed several centuries after his reported death, and this site could not independently verify the specific events they describe against contemporary fourth-century sources, which do not survive. What can be said with more confidence is that his cultus spread widely and early, especially in the Eastern Church, and that devotion to him as a healer of throat ailments was well established in both East and West by the early medieval period, eventually producing the Blessing of Throats still practiced today.

Catholic Theology

Devotion to St. Blaise rests on ordinary Catholic teaching about the intercession of the saints and the legitimate use of sacramentals, such as the blessed candles used in the Blessing of Throats, whose effect the Church understands as flowing from prayer and trust in God rather than from the candles themselves. Seeking a saint’s intercession for physical healing, as this devotion does, is understood as a complement to ordinary medical care, not a substitute for it.

How to Practice It

  • Receive the Blessing of Throats at a parish on or near February 3, the traditional occasion for this sacramental.
  • Pray to St. Blaise for protection from throat illness and choking, for yourself or for others.
  • Consider carrying a St. Blaise medal as a sacramental reminder of trust in God’s protection.
  • Approach the narrative details of his Acts as received legend built around an ancient and genuine martyr’s cultus, rather than as verified history.

Associated Prayers

When It’s Observed

St. Blaise’s feast is kept on February 3, when many Catholic parishes offer the Blessing of Throats, most often at the end of Mass, using two candles blessed the previous day at the Feast of the Presentation.

Church Status

St. Blaise’s veneration is ancient, well established in both the Eastern and Western Church, and his feast remains part of the Church’s calendar as an optional memorial, together with the widely practiced Blessing of Throats. This standing concerns the legitimacy of his cultus and the sacramental rite associated with him; it does not amount to a Church declaration that every narrative detail of his legendary Acts, composed centuries after his death, is verified history.

Common Misconceptions

“The Blessing of Throats works like a medical treatment or guaranteed cure.”

It does not. The Blessing of Throats is a sacramental, a sign that disposes the person receiving it to grace and expresses trust in God’s care through the intercession of St. Blaise; it is not a substitute for medical evaluation or treatment of an actual throat condition. The Church consistently distinguishes sacramentals of this kind from medicine, encouraging both prayer and appropriate professional care together rather than one in place of the other.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the origin of the Blessing of Throats?

It comes from the legendary episode in St. Blaise’s Acts in which he is said to have miraculously saved a choking child on the way to his own execution. Though this specific story cannot be independently verified against contemporary sources, it became the basis for a sacramental blessing that has been practiced in Catholic parishes for many centuries and continues widely today.

Why are two crossed candles used in the Blessing of Throats?

The candles are traditionally blessed the day before, at the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2, sometimes called Candlemas, and are then held crossed near the throat during the blessing on St. Blaise’s feast the following day. The custom links the two close winter feasts and gives the blessing its most recognizable visual form.

How much is actually known about the historical St. Blaise?

Very little can be independently confirmed. His surviving Acts were composed centuries after his reported martyrdom around 316 and are considered by scholars to be largely legendary in their narrative details, though the antiquity of his cultus itself, especially in the Eastern Church, is well attested. This site presents his biography as received hagiography rather than documented history.

Sources

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