SAINT BLAISE

​​According to tradition, Blaise had been a doctor before he was ordained a priest. He became the bishop of Sebaste (now in central Turkey). During a period of persecution, he fled to a cave where he lived as a hermit. […] One legend says that while Blaise was in prison, a mother brought him her small boy, who was choking on a fishbone stuck in his throat. Blaise prayed over the child, and he was healed. Every year on St. Blaise’s feast, two candles tied with ribbon in the shape of an X are used to bless throats …
​(courtesy of www.loyolapress.com)

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O Glorious Saint Blaise,
who by thy martyrdom
has left to the Church a precious witness to the faith,
obtain for us the grace to
preserve within ourselves this divine gift,
and to defend, without human respect,
both by word and example,
the truth of that same faith,
which is so wickedly attacked
and slandered in these our times.
 
You who miraculously cured
a little child when it was at the point of death
by reason of an affliction of the throat,
grant us your powerful protection in like misfortunes;
and, above all, obtain for us
the grace of repentance,
together with a faithful observance of our Church,
and avoidance from offending Almighty God. Amen.