24 Facts About Saint Blaise

Marco Polo reported the place where "Messer Saint Blaise obtained the glorious crown of martyrdom", Sebastea; the shrine near the citadel mount was mentioned by William of Rubruck in 1253.

From being a healer of bodily ailments, Saint Blaise became an expert of souls, then retired for a time to a cavern where he remained in prayer.

Saint Blaise is said to have healed animals and to have been assisted by animals.

The legendary Acts of St Saint Blaise were written 400 years after his death, and are apocryphal and, perhaps, fictional.

Saint 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.

Saint Blaise's 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.

Consequently, Saint Blaise is invoked for protection against injuries and illnesses of the throat.

In many places, on the day of his feast the blessing of St Saint Blaise is given: two candles, blessed on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, are held in a crossed position by a priest over the heads of the faithful or the people are touched on the throat with them.

One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, Blaise became one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages.

Saint Blaise's followers became widespread in Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries and his legend is recounted in the 13th-century Legenda Aurea.

Saint Blaise is the patron of the Armenian Order of Saint Blaise.

In Bradford, West Yorkshire a Catholic middle school named after St Saint Blaise was operated by the Diocese of Leeds from 1961 to 1995.

The name was chosen due to the connections of Bradford to the woollen industry and the method that St Saint Blaise was martyred, with the woolcomb.

Saint Blaise is the patron saint of the city of Dubrovnik and formerly the protector of the independent Republic of Ragusa.

St Saint Blaise revealed their pernicious plan to Stojko, a canon of St Stephen's Cathedral.

The Senate summoned Stojko, who told them in detail how St Saint Blaise had appeared before him as an old man with a long beard and a bishop's mitre and staff.

Saint Blaise was prominent in Iceland, in particular Southwestern Iceland, where he was known for his purported miracle-working powers.

St Saint Blaise Church, Sao Bras, Goa, India was a small Chapel built in 1541 by Croatian sailors and traders settled in the village.

In England in the 18th and 19th centuries Saint 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 to England by teaching the English to comb wool.

In iconography, Saint Blaise is represented holding two crossed candles in his hand, or in a cave surrounded by wild beasts, as he was found by the hunters of the governor.

Saint Blaise is often shown with the instruments of his martyrdom, steel combs.

Saint Blaise is traditionally believed to intercede in cases of throat illnesses, especially for fish-bones stuck in the throat.

Saint Blaise is called upon to aid in protection against obstructive sleep apnea since this involves the throat tissues interfering with breathing during sleep.