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Does
St Blaise and Blessing of Throats
have any meaning or signifgance in the Eastern Rites ?

I recall when I was in grade school at a Latin Rite Slovak School, the Blessing of the Throats with two candles was always a big event.

I don't even know if they do it at our Parish anymore.

When I was in grade school, I went to mass EVERY DAY. I sometimes joke around that if I miss mass I have credit :-) but it was always nice to see the different liturgical seasons and to celebrate Holy Days.

Although I am Byzantine, I am also an organist in a RC Church. The blessing of throats is an annual event, and I get mine blessed, too. I figure, why not? I can use all the blessings I can get.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

Most assuredly our holy father Blaise, bishop of Sebaste and martyr, is observed liturgically on the Byzantine calendar. You will find his feast kept on February 11.

The sacramental of the blessing of throats, however, is a Latin custom, developed in tandem with St. Blaise being considered one of the "Fourteen Holy Helpers" of medieval fame. Each of these saints was invoked for a particular need:

1. Achatius, against headaches.
2. Barbara, against lightning/fire/explosion/sudden death
3. Blaise, against diseases of the throat
4. Catherine, by philosophers, students, lawyers
5. Christopher, by travelers
6. Cyriacus, against eye problems
7. Denis, against headaches and rabies
8. Erasmus, against cramp/intestinal diseases
9. Eustace, by hunters; against fire
10. George, by soldiers; against skin diseases
11. Giles, against epilepsy/insanity/sterility/cases of possession
12. Margaret, by pregnant women & during childbirth
13. Pantaleon, against phthisis & wasting disease
14. Vitus (Guy), against epilepsy/St. Vitus dance

There were local variants on the saints included <G>. The feast of the Fourteen Holy Helpers was kept on the pre-Vatican II calendar of some diocese on August 8. There was a large pilgrimage shrine to the Vierzehn Heiligen in Austria in the mountains.

No eastern Catholics keep the custom of blessing throats on the feast of St. Blase, unless they picked it up from the Roman church.

Prof. J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

Dear Professor Thompson, You are of course correct in your post. But, there are parishes who give the Blessing of St. Blaise on his Feastday (as you stated)...and some Orthodox parishes at that. The Blessing of St. Blaise predates the schism and is among THE most ancient blessings in the Church. As such, there are Byelorusian and Carpathian and Ukrainian parishes here and there in the Orthodox Church that give the blessing, albeit with blessed candles and the hand cross. After all, St. Blaise was Bishop of Sebaste in ARMENIA...and that IS an Eastern country, right? So he was an Eastern bishop. It is interesting that wherever I've found this blessing given in Orthodox parishes, there is emphasis on his also being prayed to in order not to withold sins in the Holy Mystery of Confession as well as the more popular, patron of those with maladies of the throat.

St. Blaise, Bishop of Sebaste and Undermercenary Healer, pray unto God for us!

In His great mercy,
+Fr. Gregory

Back home, I have a photocopy of a Byzantine-style "St. Blaise Blessing of Throats" from some Ukrainian Greek Catholic source; whoever compiled/composed it did a good job making it thoroughly Byzantinized (including a Synaxarion).

I wish I had a pic of the icon my dad did of St. Blaise for a Polish RC priest: St. Blaise is dressed in modern Armenian style episcopal vestments and is holding a palm, a fish, and a dikirion; the inscriptions are in Polish, Armenian, and English. It is a very inclusive icon!

Dave

Dave, I have (what I thought was) a WONDEERFUL icon of St. Blaise here in my office, untill I heard about YOURS...now I'm feeling a bit jipped...but mine doesn't have any palm or fish because doesn't have any fish or palm or candlesticks. What's up wit dat bro?

In Christ,
Your poor brother,
+Fr. Gregory

I have never heard of this custome in the Byzantine Church. But that doesn't mean that it is not observed. I don't have an icon of him, but I have several holy cards of him.

There was a church of the 14 Holy Helpers in Baltimore, but I don't know if it exists anymore. I'll have to look it up.

I know a priest who has a holy card of all 14 Holy Helpers. Its neat.

That sheds some light on it.

If I recall what happened, when I was in grade school, early 1980's the one pastor did the Slovak language mass and confession in Slovak and of course the Blessing of Throats.

Since we are heavily influenced by the East, I was wondering of the orign of it.

Eventually the pastor left and most of the nuns that spoke Slovak retired and the next pastor, I guess did not know Slovak, and some of the things changed.

Here are a few good icons of St. Blaise and Prayers to him:

http://www.religiousmall.com/rqt_wst30.html

and:

http://home.it.net.au/~jgrapsas/pages/stblasios.htm

and a Novena to St. Blaise:

http://www.cin.org/saints/novblase.html


St. Blaise, Bishop of Sebaste and Undermercenary healer, pray unto God for us!


In Christ Who is glorified in His Saints,
+Fr. Gregory

A few more icons and holy pictures and medals of St. Blaise of Sebaste:

http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/stb04002.htm

St. Blaise of Sebaste, intercede with the Lord that we may never withhold any known sin in Confession!

In God's great mercy,
+Fr. Gregory

Dear Friends,

I used to go and get my throat blessed at my Catholic high school, but my singing voice is still quite lousy!

There can be no doubt that this is a Western practice that has been appropriated by some EC AND Orthodox churches. In Galicia, Ukraine, there are Orthodox churches with Stations of the Cross around the church, Sacred Heart devotions and even Monstrances.

As for the 14 Holy Helpers, it is interesting that the fourth bishop of Naples, Italy was "St Aspreno" or "St Aspirin" another patron of headaches.

I wonder if it is a coincidence that "St Aspirin" and "Aspirin" have similar names?

Alex

I became interested in St Blaise after a memorable incident in 1999. I had been waking up with a sore throat every morning for several weeks(the pain would go away as soon as I had coffee), when I went for the blessing of the throats at St John Cantius in Chicago. The next morning I had no pain at all, nor did I have any for the rest of the year.

I always tend to think of the Feast of St Blaise in conjunction with Candlemas.

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

St. Blaise is still well-venerated amongst the Eastern Orthodox Christians in the old countries and is still working miracles!

In Albania, there is the famous monastery of St. Blaise (Shen Vlashi) outside of the port city of Durres [Dyrrachium (Latin) or Epidamnos (Greek)], a major West-East gateway for many a thousand years.

At this monastery, there was a large stone from which fresh water came forth. Upon his feast day, but also at other times, pilgrims (both Eastern & Western Christians as well as Muslims) came to drink from this spring. I do not know if the purpose was to heal illnesses of the throat, but it is interesting that, indeed, the water that one drinks passes through the throat.

The Communists (of cursed memory) destroyed the stone and the whole monastery in the late 1960s under their policy of enforced atheism, but to no avail, of course. (Yes, the Lord rebuked the fools).

The newly-resurrected Church (in the early 1990s) immediately began building her most beautiful "Resurrection of Christ Seminary" there on those same grounds. This new spring now yields faithful men and women to serve His holy Church, curing more than the illnesses of the throat, but bringing the gifts of preaching and speaking to a nation once deprived of His lifesaving word.

Let all glory be to God.

In Christ,
Andrew

And lest I forget, there is the famous chocolate maker here in the heart of Philadelphia, named "Blasius."

When one's throat is ailing, have a chocolate!

Andrew

Dear Mike,

I don't know about Baltimore, but there is one near Buffalo, and they display an Icon of the Fourteen Holy Helpers on their webpage.

http://www.fourteenholyhelpers.homestead.com/

John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck

A Prayer to the Fourteen Holy Helpers


Almighty and most merciful Father
who has honored your chosen saints


George, Blase, Erasmus,

Pantaleon, Vitus, Christopher,

Denis, Cyriacus, Achatius, Eustace,

Giles, Margaret, Barbara, and Catherine,


with the special privilege that those who call upon these Fourteen Holy Helpers in their needs

will, according to your promise, have their prayers heard,

grant us pardon for our sins and through their intercession free us from all adversities.


Hear our prayer, we beg Thee,

through Christ our Lord. Amen


Fourteen Holy Helpers Pray For Us!!

Interestly, the majority (all?) of these Holy Helpers are Eastern saints.

Dave

I still remember my first experience with the blessing of the throats:

I was a little boy and suffering from a sore throat at the time. When it came time during the Mass for the blessing of throats, my parents and I got in line. I was too young to know the reason why.

When the priest placed the two candles around my throat and said the invocation, "Through the intercession of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat...", I was caught by surprise. As I was leaving with my parents, I remember asking them, "How did he know I had a sore throat!!"

I left the church with the impression that the priest used the two candles to "read" my soul and found out that I had a sore throat.
Ha!Ha!

And that is how the feast of Saint Blaise has become one of my favorite feastdays to celebrate.

Here is an icon of Saint Blaise I found online. It depicts him holding a dikirion. You will also see a relic of Saint Blaise embedded in the omophorion.


[Linked Image]

Well, as for all of the Fourteen Holy Helpers being Eastern...

1) St. Erasmus was from Campagna, Italy
2) St. Cyriacus was from Rome
3) St. Eustachius was from Rome
4) St. Giles was from Greece but resided in France
5) St. Vito was from Sicily

Here are some other prayers for the edification of the faithful:

INVOCATION OF THE HOLY HELPERS
Fourteen Holy Helpers, who served God in humility and confidence on earth and are now in the enjoyment of His beatific vision in Heaven; because thou persevered till death thou gained the crown of eternal life. Remember the dangers that surround us in this vale of tears, and intercede for us in all our needs and adversities. Amen.

Fourteen Holy Helpers, select friends of God, I honor thee as mighty intercessors, and come with filial confidence to thee in my needs, for the relief of which I have undertaken to make this novena. Help me by thy intercession to placate God's wrath, which I have provoked by my sins, and aid me in amending my life and doing penance. Obtain for me the grace to serve God with a willing heart, to be resigned to His holy will, to be patient in adversity and to persevere unto the end, so that, having finished my earthly course, I may join thee in Heaven, there to praise for ever God, who is wonderful in His Saints. Amen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Litany of the Fourteen Holy Helpers
LORD, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Queen of Martyrs,
pray for us.
Saint Joseph, helper in all needs, etc.
Fourteen Holy Helpers,
Saint George, valiant Martyr of Christ,
Saint Blase, zealous bishop and benefactor of the poor,
Saint Erasmus, mighty protector of the oppressed,
Saint Pantaleon, miraculous exemplar of charity,
Saint Vitus, special protector of chastity,
Saint Christophorus, mighty intercessor in dangers,
Saint Dionysius, shining mirror of faith and confidence,
Saint Cyriacus, terror of Hell,
Saint Achatius, helpful advocate in death,
Saint Eustachius, exemplar of patience in adversity,
Saint Giles, despiser of the world,
Saint Margaret, valiant champion of the Faith,
Saint Catherine, victorious defender of the Faith and of purity,
Saint Barbara, mighty patroness of the dying,

All ye Holy Helpers, etc.
All ye Saints of God,
In temptations against faith,
In adversity and trials,
In anxiety and want,
In every combat,
In every temptation,
In sickness,
In all needs,
In fear and terror,
In dangers of salvation,
In dangers of honor,
In dangers of reputation,
In dangers of property,
In dangers by fire and water,
Be merciful, spare us, O Lord!
Be merciful, graciously hear us, O Lord!

From all sin,
deliver us, O Lord.
From Thy wrath, etc.
From the scourge of earthquake,
From plague, famine, and war,
From lightning and storms,
From a sudden and unprovided death,
From eternal damnation,

Through the mystery of Thy holy incarnation, etc.
Through Thy birth and Thy life,
Through Thy Cross and Passion,
Through Thy death and burial,
Through the merits of Thy blessed Mother Mary,
Through the merits of the Fourteen Holy Helpers,
On the Day of Judgment, deliver us, O Lord!

We sinners, beseech Thee hear us.
That Thou spare us,
We beseech Thee, hear us.
That Thou pardon us, etc.
That Thou convert us to true penance,
That Thou give and preserve the fruits of the earth,
That Thou protect and propagate Thy holy Church,
That Thou preserve peace and concord among the nations,
That Thou give eternal rest to the souls of the departed,
That Thou come to our aid through the intercession of the Holy Helpers,
That through the intercession of Saint George Thou preserve us in the Faith,
That through the intercession of Saint Blase Thou confirm us in hope,
That through the intercession of Saint Erasmus Thou enkindle in us Thy holy love,
That through the intercession of Saint Pantaleon Thou give us charity for our neighbor,
That through the intercession of Saint Vitus Thou teach us the value of our soul,
That through the intercession of Saint Christophorus Thou preserve us from sin,
That through the intercession of Saint Dionysius Thou give us tranquillity of conscience,
That through the intercession of Saint Cyriacus Thou grant us resignation to Thy holy will,
That through the intercession of Saint Eustachius Thou give us patience in adversity,
That through the intercession of Saint Achatius Thou grant us a happy death,
That through the intercession of Saint Giles Thou grant us a merciful judgment,
That through the intercession of Saint Margaret Thou preserve us from Hell,
That through the intercession of Saint Catherine Thou shorten our Purgatory,
That through the intercession of Saint Barbara Thou receive us in Heaven,
That through the intercession of all the Holy Helpers Thou wilt grant our prayers,

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us, O Lord.

V. Pray for us, ye Fourteen Holy Helpers.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promise of Christ.

Let us Pray.

Almighty and eternal God, Who hast bestowed extraordinary graces and gifts on Thy saints George, Blase, Erasmus, Pantaleon, Vitus, Christophorus, Dionysius, Cyriacus, Eustachius, Achatius, Giles, Margaret, Catherine, and Barbara, and hast illustrated them by miracles; we beseech Thee to graciously hear the petitions of all who invoke their intercession. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, who didst miraculously fortify the Fourteen Holy Helpers in the confession of the Faith; grant us, we beseech Thee, to imitate their fortitude in overcoming all temptations against it, and protect us through their irttercession in all dangers of soul and body, so that we may serve Thee in purity of heart and chastity of body. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Logos Teen

Finally, here's the icon of St. Blaise that I mentioned last year (!).

[Linked Image]

http://www.theologyincolor.com

The inscriptions of the icon are in English, Polish and Armenian. St. Blaise is vested in modern Armenian bishop's vestments, and is holding the martyr's palm, the fish bone and the throat-blessing candles in a Byzantine dikirion.

Dave

I love it!!!!!! It's the best image of Saint Blaise I have ever seen!
Any prints available?

I am interested. Is it in English?

From the School of the Seasons

February 3 St Blaise
I vividly remember St Blaise's Day from a Catholic childhood for on this day we went into the dim church and knelt at the Communion rail while the priest came up to each of us and held a pair of crossed white candles against our throat, to ward off disease. St Blaise is the patron of throat diseases since he once saved a child from choking. He was also a Bishop in Armenia in the early 4th century.

Like St Nicholas, St Blaise appears to be one of those saints who accumulated the legends and lores of earlier deities and folk customs around his name, perhaps because his name, sounds like wheat (ble) in French or crops (biade) in Italian.

In medieval times, he was the patron saint of plowmen. On his holiday, women brought a pail of seeds to the church to be blessed. Half of the seed was left as an offering to the church, the other half taken home and mixed with the regular seed before plowing (like the Armenians bringing home embers from the sacred fires of Mihr--see Candlemas, Feb 2).

St Blaise was also the patron saint of shepherds and the woolen industry because he was allegedly martyred on the stone table used for combing out wool and flayed with the prickly metal combs that remove tiny stones from the wool. As with other saints who suffered peculiar forms of martyrdom (for instance, see Agatha, Feb 5), the connection with sheep probably came first.
Both St Bridget (Feb 1) and St Agnes (Jan 21) are also associated with sheep and this is the time of the year when lambs are being born.

In another interesting connection with this month (and the holiday of Lupercalia, Feb 15), Blaise is invoked against wolves since he supposedly forced a wolf to return a pig he had snatched from a poor widow. (See St Vlasios, Feb 11.)

The LaPlante sisters recommend the following ritual, adapted from the Catholic throat-blessing ceremony, to be used whenever you are in need of healing. Bake (or purchase) two long skinny loaves of bread (or use two candles). Light another candle, preferably beeswax. Cross the two loaves (or
candles) at your throat and say this prayer:

Saint Blaise
Pray for me
[Command that this obstruction
Go up or go down]
Deliver me from illnesses of the throat
And every other evil.

Then eat the bread and drink a cup of tea (sweetened with honey) while the candle burns.

Carol Field says that the feast day of San Biagio is especially celebrated in Italian towns where wool was worked. One of the most elaborate ceremonies takes place in Taranta Peligna, a small community in Abruzzo, where the townspeople work communally to make hundreds of special breads called panicelle in the shape of a four-fingered hand. The fingers are said to represent the collaboration of dyers, spinners, weavers and finishers The breads are baked on February 1st, but distributed on Feb 3rd, the official holiday, at the church at the same time the priest is blessing the throats of the faithful.

In Lombardy, people eat a slice of panettone on St Blaise's day to protect against sore throats during the year. In Serra San Bruno in Calabria, the cookie for San Biagio is called an abbacolo and is baked in the form of a question mark or bishop's scepter. The young men of the town offer them to their sweethearts. If the girl breaks the piece in two and gives part back to the boy, keeping the other for herself, it means she will marry him.
Sicilians serve tiny white breads shaped like grasshoppers and called panuzzi or cavadduzzi or miliddi, thus honoring the saint who rid Sicily of an infestation of grasshoppers.

Blackburn, Bonnie and Holford-Strevens, Leofranc, The Oxford Companion to the Year, Oxford University Press 1999 Field, Carol, Celebrating Italy, William Morrow 1990 LaPlante, Alice & Clare, Heaven Help Us: the Worrier's Guide to the Patron Saints, Dell 1999

I remember as a kid I'd get strep throat after I'd get my throat blessed, it happened a few years in a row. I attribute this to the fact that a virus was going around and St. Blaise's Day happened to be during that time of the year we tend to get sick.

Dear list-members,
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Thank you to Chtec for posting my icon of Saint Blaise and for mentioning the text of a Blessing of Throats. I retyped the copy I received 20 years ago, and uploaded it to my website. The Order of Blessing of Throats [theologyincolor.com]
I am not sure of the origin of the text or where it is performed. I post it here for informational purposes.

Ray

" The fingers are said to represent the collaboration of dyers, spinners, weavers and finishers " And who are you? I'm a shepherd. LOL Sorry I couldn't resist.

Do you know,

there have been some claims from albanian Roman catholic priests and researchers in Albania, that put St. Blaise in middle Albania, known in ancient time as Arbania, Arbenia.
That roman catholic priest says that there has been a mistake in writing instead of arbenia, armenia.


Actually, there is in middle Albania today a sancatuary of St. Antonio Di Padova, the most visited pilgrimage place in Albania and probably one of the most miracle working places in Europe, although unknown in catholic world, where, has been claimed, is the famous place saint Blaise hid himself during the time of persecution.


The church is on a mountain slope of a place called Sebaste, where is also a hole in the rocks, outside of a albanian coastal town on the Adriatic sea named Lacium, which is a latin form of Lake.


The claim has been made from the well known albanian roman catholic priest and scholar from the region of Kosovo, Shtjefen (Stephen) Gjecov, who was later killed from the serbs in 1929.

Thank you very much for posting it!

14 Holy Helpers,

I have never heard of them before, but what a wonderful bit of knowledge to know there are special ones who have gone before us and who can intercede for us with the Trinity for our petitions.

I pity those who dismiss the Communion of Saints and criticise Cathoics for praying to statutes. They are certainly missing out.

Jim

I found recently this post about the blessing of throats that took place at St. Tikhon’s Seminary (OCA):


Unfortunately, the article on the seminary website has been removed, so one cannot see the photos that were posted.