Saint-Blaise of Sebaste February 3

In 316, Agricola, governor of Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia, arrived in Sebaste on the orders of the emperor Licinius to put the Christians to death and he had the bishop arrested. As he was being led to prison, a mother placed her only son at his feet, who was dying of suffocation from a fishbone he had swallowed, and the child was immediately cured. However, the governor, unable to make Blaise renounce his faith, had him beaten, had his flesh torn with iron combs and had him beheaded.

According to The Legend golden, after Blaise was appointed bishop of Sebaste and to escape the persecutions of Diocletian, the saint went to a cave where he lived as a hermit. Sitting at the entrance to a cave, the birds brought him his sustenance, and the animals gathered around him to receive his blessing or to be healed when they were sick: he was thus seen feeding a fox, caressing the head of a lion or a panther.

While hunting, the soldiers of the local governor came across this cave, and saw the crowd of animals around Blaise, but they were unable to capture any of them. So the governor had the saint brought under heavy escort. On the way, Blaise saved a dying child who had swallowed a fishbone, and got a wolf to return a pig he had stolen from a poor widow. The governor, unable to get him to sacrifice to his gods, had him thrown into prison.

There the widow brought him bread and the head of her pig, as well as a candle: this explains the use of candles in the saint's cult. Later, the governor had him tortured with iron combs that lacerated his flesh, then ordered that he be thrown into a pond. But then Blaise made the sign of the cross, and the surface of the pond became solid for him. The governor then had him beheaded. When he died, the saint asked God that whoever called on him for a sore throat or other illness be heard, and this was granted.

Blaise is the patron saint of the city of Dubrovnik (formerly Ragusa) (where he is known as Sveti Vlaho): he is believed to have appeared in the air in 971 to warn the inhabitants of an imminent attack by the Venetians. In Russia, Saint Vlassiy is the patron saint of flocks. Saint Blaise is the patron saint of many cities, hospitals and many legends exist everywhere in Europe.