Blessing of Throats on the Feast of Saint Blaise, February 3

Saint Blase was the bishop of Sebaste in Armenia during the fourth century. According to various accounts, he was a physician before becoming a bishop, a ‘physician of souls’. His cult spread throughout the entire Church in the Middle Ages because he was reputed to have miraculously cured a little boy who nearly died because of a fishbone in his throat. When Blaise was put in jail in Sebastea, the mother of the child whom Blasé had saved came to him and brought two fine wax candles in an attempt to dispel the gloom of his darkened cell. Which is why Saint Blaise is ojen depicted holding two crossed candles in his hand. And from the eighth century onward, he has been invoked on behalf of the sick, especially those afflicted with illnesses of the throat.

On the day of his feast on the 3rd of February, the blessing of St. Blaise is given: two candles, blessed the day before on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord (“candlemas”), are held in a crossed position by a priest or the lay minister and the people are touched on the throat with them, one at a time. At the same time the following blessing is given: “Through the intercession of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr , may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness . ” Then the priest makes the sign of the cross over the faithful. This annual blessing of throats is a traditional sign of the struggle against illness in the life of the Christian.

Fr. Bong officiated the February 3, Saturday 6 am and 7 am masses where there was Blessing of Throats at the end of each mass.