We all suffer from different kinds of infections, and we look for medicines for everything. Along with that, we seek the intercession of the saints for a cure. Here we have a patron saint for the care of the throat. Saint Blaise, has been considered as the patron saint for healing the throat.
Blaise was born of noble birth in Cappadocia. It was the country where Christianity had been adopted as the official religion around AD 300. The Romans, however, once again started to persecute Armenian Christians. Blaise received a message from God asking him to flee to the hills. He lived in a cave as a hermit in solitude and prayer.
Legend has it that he made friends with the wild animals and that a group of hunters hunting lions for the Roman amphitheater found the bishop kneeling in prayer, surrounded by patiently attendant wolves, lions and bears. They seized Blaise and carried him off to Agricola, the governor of Cappadocia. On their way, however, they encountered a woman whose pig was about to be seized by a wolf; St Blaise commanded the wolf to release the pig, and it was freed unhurt. The old lady, grateful for the timely release of her pig, later visited Blaise in prison carrying him candles to ease his incarceration so that he would be able to read the scriptures in his cell. Some versions say that whilst on his way to goal and others say whilst actually in prison, a mother came with her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat. At Blaise’s command, the child was able to cough up the bone
At his trial, the governor tried to persuade Blaise to renounce his Christian faith. Blaise of course piously refused, and he was thrashed. He still would not recant and was then hung from a tree, and his flesh pulled aprt from his bones with rakes or iron combs, which resembled wool combs. Finally, he was beheaded.
As a result of different subplots in this legend, Blaise not only became a patron of the throat but also of wild animals (and later of veterinary surgeons) and wool workers.
A holy relic of the saint is kept in Assumption Cathedral Church in Dubrovnik from 1026. His feast day is celebrated on 3 February every year.