Page 28 - Saints of the Month: February

Saints of the Month: February

afterwards became a physician. In the
practice of his profession he saw so much of
the miseries of life and the hollowness of
worldly pleasures, that he resolved to spend
the rest of his days in the service of God,
and from being a healer of bodily ailments
to be- come a physician of souls. The Bishop
of Sebaste, in Armenia, having died, our
Saint, much to the gratification of the
inhabitants of that city, was appointed to
succeed him. St. Blase at once began to
instruct his people as much by his example
as by his words, and the great virtues and
sanctity of this servant of God were attested
by many miracles. From all parts the people
came flocking to him for the cure of bodily
and spiritual ills. Agricolaus, Governor of
Cappadocia and the Lesser Armenia, having
begun a persecution by order of the
Emperor Licinius, our Saint was seized and
hurried off to prison. While on his way
there, a distracted mother, whose only child
was dying of a throat disease, threw herself
at the feet of St. Blase and implored his
intercession. Touched at her grief, the Saint
offered up his prayers, and the child was
cured; and since that time his aid has often
been effectually solicited in cases of a
similar disease. Refusing to worship the
false gods of the heathens, St. Blase was
first scourged; his body was then torn with
hooks, and finally he was beheaded in the
year 316.

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