A Prayer to Saint Blaise

Saint Blaise (sometimes spelled Blase) is best known today as the patron saint of those with throat troubles because he once cured a child who was choking on a fish bone. That is why, on Saint Blaise's feast day (February 3), priests bless the throats of Catholics, to protect the faithful from sicknesses and physical problems of the throat. A fourth-century bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, Saint Blaise suffered martyrdom for his faithfulness to Christ.

A Prayer to Saint Blaise

O glorious Saint Blaise, who by thy martyrdom didst leave to the Church a precious witness to the faith, obtain of us the grace to preserve within ourselves this divine gift, and to defend, without human respect, both by word and example, the truth of that same faith, which is so wickedly attacked and slandered in these our times. Thou who didst miraculously restore a little child when it was at the point of death by reason of an affliction of the throat, grant us thy mighty protection in like misfortunes; and, above all, obtain for us the grace of Christian mortification together with a faithful observance of the precepts of the Church, which may keep us from offending Almighty God. Amen.

An Explanation of the Prayer to Saint Blaise

In this prayer to Saint Blaise, we recall Saint Blaise's martyrdom and ask him to intercede for us, so that we may receive the grace to preserve our faith and to defend the truth of Christianity from attack. We ask, too, for the grace to rein in our passions, especially those of the flesh, and to observe the laws of the Church, which help us to grow in grace and in love of our neighbor and of God. And we ask Saint Blaise as well for protection against illnesses and physical dangers to our throats, recalling his role as patron saint of those with throat troubles.