Saint Blaise

Saint Blaise: Feast Day Feb. 3rd 

When I think of Saint Blaise, I always remember the blessing of the throat at Mass, since he is the patron saint of those suffering from throat ailments. Saint Blaise was a Bishop and a martyr, but there is really not a lot of information about him. When we consider that we don’t know a lot biographically about him, instead of being disappointed, I find it rather inspiring. Since we are all called to live holy lives, striving for sanctification, just think how many saints have lived throughout history and are even now living in our present time that we will never know about until our earthly life is ended. Saint Blaise lived in a difficult time period, and the time we live in today has its own difficulties and trials. We have nothing to fear, however, because in times of great trial, many graces will abound and many saints will continue to be made (“...where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” Romans 5:20). When he addressed the world youth in 1999, Pope John Paul II (now Saint John Paul II) said, “Do not be afraid to be the saints of the new millennium!” Pray for graces, and let the Lord use you to help “Blaise” a path of goodness, pointing to Him and His holy name.

Celebrating Through Food:

Since a miracle associated with Saint Blaise is that he saved a child from choking on a fish bone, serve fish for dinner. My kids like Gorton’s Fish Fillets, so we enjoyed them with macaroni and cheese and a side of peas.

Celebrating Through a Craft:

Going along with a fish theme, use construction paper to make paper fish to play a fishing game. Have you kids decorate the fish with designs or stickers, and then write numbers ranging from 1-5 on the back of them. Use a magnet for an eye on each fish. Make a fishing pole using a kebob grilling stick. Cut the sharp end off with scissors and then use masking or duct tape to seal the end to make sure it is not sharp. Tie yarn to the taped end and attach a paper clip at the other end of the yarn. Go fishing and try and catch your fish in numerical order, throwing them back when you catch an out of order number. While you fish, you can even have Gold Fish as a tasty snack.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful day celebrating Saint Blaise. Saint Blaise, Bishop and martyr, pray for us!

Additional Reading:

Here is a great article, from Franciscan Media, about Saint Blaise.