Blaise, St

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Blaise, St an Armenian bishop and martyr of the 4th century, one of the Fourteen of Chancery, who was said to have been martyred by being torn with combs for carding wool before he was beheaded.

He is said at the intervention of the boy's mother to have healed a boy who had a fishbone stuck in his throat; when Blaise was afterwards in prison, the woman brought him food and candles. His emblems are a comb (for carding wool) and a candle, he is the patron saint of wool-combers and those with illnesses of the throat, and his feast day is 3 February.