Saint Blaise Feast day 3rd February

Saint Blaise was a physician and bishop of Sebaste in Asia Minor. it is believed he was martyred in 316 AD.

People came ‘flocking’ to him because he was able to cure them of bodily and spiritual ills. Apparently he could also heal animals.
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The Roman Emperor Licinius believed that arresting and punishing important leaders like Saint Blaise would prevent other people from becoming Christians.

One of the stories told about him was that on his way to prison he cured a boy who had a bone stuck in his throat. The legend reads-
As he was being led to jail, a mother set her 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

Up until 1825 a Bishop Blaize festival and procession were held at Bradford. A child would recite these words-
Hail to the day when kind auspicious rays
Deigned first to smile on famous Bishop Blaize.

He is the patron saint of people with diseases of the throat.

On February 3rd many parishes bless the throats of their parishioners in a special ceremony. Two unlit candles are held next to each person’s throat as the priest or deacon says -
Through the intercession of Saint Blaise, 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.

His name is found on inn signs in towns which became centres of the wool trade such as Cirencester and Exeter.

It is believed he was tortured by having his body torn apart with the iron combs then used by woolcombers, then beheaded.

Saint Blaise is one of the 14 Holy helpers and became one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages.