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The saints

St. Blaise

The bishop of the throat blessing: two crossed candles and a story about a fish bone.

Feast: 3 February · died 316 · The early Church · Sebaste, Armenia

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Stained-glass window showing St. Blaise as a bishop with two other figures.

Unknown artistUnknown artist. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Blaise

Sebaste, Armenia

Blaise was a bishop in Armenia who was martyred around 316.1

Almost everything else comes from legends written centuries later.1

In one of them, a mother brought him her son, choking on a fish bone, and Blaise healed the boy.

Patron of relief from throat ailments1; wool combers1

01St. Blaise

Two candles

That story is the reason for the blessing of throats on his feast, with two candles crossed under the chin.1

The legends also say he hid in a cave and wild animals came to him, and that he was beheaded.1

Live it this week

Get your throat blessed, and use your voice well

Blaise’s blessing protects the throat. This week, besides praying for health, guard what comes out of yours: no gossip, no cursing, one kind word to someone every day.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Blaise”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.