BLESSING OF THE THROATS
Posted by Leslie Palma-Simoncek
Staten Island Advance – SILive.com
09/02/blessing_of_the_throats_1.html
Jan 3 2009
NY
Today is the Feast of St. Blaise and it’s customary — although
somewhat less common these days — for Catholics to have their throats
blessed in observance of the feast. For this blessing, two specially
blessed candles are pressed against the throat as the priest or
deacon says, "Saint Blaise, pray for us that we may not suffer from
illnesses of the throat and pray that all who are suffering be healed
by God’s love."
As with many saints, not much is known definitively about
St. Blaise. He was believed to be a bishop in Armenia in the early
fourth century. According to legend that became popular in the
eighth century– which I found several places, including here —
Blaise received a message from God to flee into the hills to escape
persecution. Hunters later discovered a cave surrounded by sick wild
animals. Blaise walked among them, curing their illnesses. The hunters
recognized the bishop and brought him back for trial. Along the way,
he convinced a wolf to release a poor woman’s pig. Once in prison,
he is said to have saved a boy who was choking on a fishbone, hence
the throat blessings.
Monsignor Edmund Whalen, pastor of St. Joseph-St. Thomas
Parish in Pleasant Plains, said the practice of blessing throats
spread throughout Europe and from there, to wherever missionaries
traveled. But in the 40 years following the Second Vatican Council,
many parishes abandoned the practice, he said, because of a lack of
understanding of the role of the saints.
"The saints are ‘heroes’ who lived their relationship with God
well, and therefore are examples of faith for us," the monsignor
said. "Devotions associated with the saints help us to grow closer
to God in the same way that they did."
At his parish and several others, including Our Lady Star of the Sea
in Huguenot and St. Adlabert’s in Elm Park, throats are being blessed
today, and the blesses were offered at all weekend masses as well. If
you missed it, there’s a special Knights of Columbas mass this evening
at 7:30 at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, located at Maguire Avenue
and Amboy Road in Pleasant Plains. Throats will be blessed after mass.
On a personal note, as a child I prayed very fervently to St. Blaise
for the throat blessing to work every year. My mother worked for a
doctor, you see, and whenever I got even slightly ill, off I went
for a painful shot of erythromycin in the rump. I got better fast,
but it came at quite a cost.