Saint Blaise

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Saint Blaise
Blaise confronting the Roman governor: scene from a stained glass window from the area of Soissons (Picardy, France), early 13th century.
Bishop & Martyr
Born	unknown in Armenia
Died	c. 316
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church
Feast	February 3 (February 11 in Eastern Church)
Attributes	Wool comb, candles, tending a choking boy or animals
Patronage	Animals, builders, choking, veterinarians, throats, Sicily, Dalmatia, Dubrovnik, Rubiera, stonecutters, carvers, wool workers.
Saints Portal

For other uses, see Saint-Blaise.

Saint Blaise (or Blasius Βλάσιος), also known as Santo Biagio,<ref.And known as Saint Bigio, Blaas, Blas, Blaze, Braz, Bras and Vlaso.</ref> was a physician and bishop of Sebaste (modern Sivas), Armenia. According to his Acta he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded.

In iconography, Blaise is often shown with the instruments of his martyrdom, iron combs. The similarity of these instruments of torture to wool combs led to his adoption as patron of wool combers in particular, and the wool trade in general. He may also be depicted with crossed candles. Such crossed candles are used for the blessing of throats on the feast day of St. Blaise, which in the Western Church falls on February 3, and in the Eastern Church on February 11.

Blaise is traditionally believed to intercede in cases of throat illnesses, especially for fish-bones stuck in the throat. Indeed, the first reference we have to him is in manuscripts of the medical writings of Aëtius Amidenus, the court physician of Justinian I, where his aid is invoked in treating objects stuck in the throat.

1 As Vlaho and Vlasü
2 Cult of Saint Blaise
3 Blaise and Blasius of Jersey
4 The Acta of St. Blaise
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] As Vlaho and Vlasü

Blaise is the patron saint of the city of Dubrovnik (where he is known as Sveti Vlaho) and formerly the protector of the independent Republic of Ragusa. At Dubrovnik his feast is celebrated yearly on 3 February, when relics of the saint, his head, a bit of bone from his throat, his right hand and his left, are paraded in reliquaries. The festivities begin the previous day, Candlemas, when white doves are released. Chroniclers of Dubrovnik such as Rastic and Ranjina attribute his veneration there to a vision in 971 to warn the inhabitants of an impending attack by the Venetians, whose galleys had dropped anchor in Gruz and near Lokrum, ostensibly to resupply their water but furtively to spy out the city's defenses. St. Blaise (Blasius) revealed their pernicious plan to Stojko, a canon of St. Stephen's Cathedral. The Senate summoned Stojko, who told them in detail how St. Blaise had appeared before him as an old man with a long beard and a bishop's mitre and staff. In this form the effigy of Blaise remained on Dubrovnik's state seal and coinage until the Napoleonic era.

In Russia, St. Vlasü is the patron saint of herds.

[edit] Cult of Saint Blaise

His cult became widespread in Europe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In Cornwall the village of St Blazey derives from his name, where the parish church is still dedicated to Saint Blaise. Indeed, the council of Oxford in 1222 forbade all work on his festival.^[1] In Italy he is known as San Biagio, He is venerated as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and his legend is recounted in the fourteenth-century LegendaAurea.

Statue of Saint Blaise at Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc.

There is a church dedicated to Saint Blaise in the Devon hamlet of Haccombe, near Newton Abbot and another at Milton near Abingdon in the Royal County of Berkshire. This is one of the country's smallest churches. It is located next to Haccombe house which is the family home of the Carew family, descendants of the captain of the Mary Rose at the time of her sinking. One curious fact associated with this church is that its "vicar" goes by the title of "Archpriest".

the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

According to Brand's Popular Antiquities (1813), in areas of the English countryside it was the custom to light bonfires on St. Blaise's feast day, February 3 - evidently inspired by the sound of the word blaze.

In Bromley there exists St. Blaze's Well [1] [2] where the water was considered to have medicinal virtues.

[edit] Blaise and Blasius of Jersey

In England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Blaise was adopted as mascot of woolworkers' pageants, particularly in Essex, Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Norwich. The popular enthusiasm for the saint is explained by the belief that Blaise had brought prosperity (as symbolised by the Woolsack) to England by teaching the English to comb wool. According to the tradition as recorded in printed broadsheets, Blaise came from Jersey. Jersey was certainly a centre of export of woollen goods (as witnessed by the name jersey for the woollen textile). However, this legend is probably the result of confusion with a different saint, Blasius of Caesarea (Caesarea being also the Latin name of Jersey).

He lends his name to the Armenian Order of Saint Blaise.

Many German churches, including the former Abbey of St. Blasius in the Black Forest are dedicated to Saint Blaise/Blasius.

In Spanish-speaking countries, he is known as San Blas, and has lent his name to many places (see San Blas).

[edit] The Acta of St. Blaise

The Acts of St. Blaise, written in Greek, do not appear to be authentic.^[2] The legend they contain is as follows:

Blaise, who had studied philosophy in his youth, was a doctor in Sebaste in Armenia, the city of his birth, who exercised his art with miraculous ability, good-will, and piety. When the bishop of the city died, he was chosen to succeed him, with the acclamation of all the people. His holiness was manifest through many miracles: from all around, people came to him to find cures for their spirit and their body; even wild animals came in herds to receive his blessing. In 316, Agricola, the governor of Cappadocia and of Lesser Armenia, having arrived in Sebastea at the order of the emperor Licinius to kill the Christians, arrested the bishop. As he was being led to prison, a mother set her only 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.^[3]