MIRACULOUS MIRACLES^™

Prayer — Prayers of the Saints

Prayer to St. Blaise

Indulgenced by Leo XIII, 13 May 1903

The saint of the throat, asked for more than throats: that we may be able 'by word and deed, without fear of man, to defend the truths of faith'.

The Prayer

English · Original

O glorious St. Blaise, who with a short prayer didst restore to perfect safety a child at the point of death from a fish-bone fixed in its throat, grant that we may all feel the power of thy patronage in every malady of the throat, and may have the special grace to mortify the dangerous sense of taste by observing faithfully the precepts of the Church.

Thou also, who in thy martyrdom hast left to the Church the testimony of a glorious faith, grant that we may keep this divine gift intact, and that in these times we may be enabled, by word and deed, without fear of man, to defend the truths of faith, so grievously obscured and attacked. Amen.

A SECOND PRAYER
O God, deliver us through the intercession of Thy holy bishop and martyr Blaise, from all evil of soul and body, especially from all ills of the throat; and grant us the grace to make a good confession in the confident hope of obtaining Thy pardon, and ever to praise with worthy lips Thy most holy name. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE BLESSING OF THROATS (given by a priest, with two candles crossed)
Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When the Prayer is Said

On 3 February; for any illness of the throat; by singers, speakers and preachers.

History & Background

Every 3 February, in parishes across the world, people queue to have two candles tied in a cross held to their throats while the priest says: 'Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness.' It is one of the very few blessings of the old Ritual that ordinary Catholics still ask for by name, and it comes from the story of a boy choking on a fishbone whom the bishop healed on his way to prison.

This prayer, indulgenced by Leo XIII in 1903, asks for that protection and then asks for something larger. Blaise died for the faith under Licinius about 316; so the second half of the prayer requests the grace to keep the gift of faith intact and to defend it 'by word and deed, without fear of man' — which is what a throat is finally for.

The text is the Raccolta's of 1910. A second prayer, from the Holy Helpers manual of 1909, is given with it.

Indulgences Attached

Three hundred days, once a day — Leo XIII, 13 May 1903 (Raccolta, 1910, no. 387).

Related Saints

St. Blaise

3rd century, Sebaste, Armenia – c. 316, Sebaste, Armenia (martyred under Licinius)

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