Saint Blaise, BISHOP AND MARTYR, A.D. 316.
by VP
Posted on Saturday February 03, 2024 at 12:00AM in Saints
Saint Blaise, Brittany, France
"He was bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, in the primitive times, when prelacy was the recompense of virtue, and almost a certain way to martyrdom. The business of his life was the care of his flock; in which he laboured with wonderful zeal for discharging his own conscience, and supporting theirs, amidst the dangers of those difficult times. Pray that this may be the spirit of all the prelates and pastors in Christ's Church; and make your address to God in behalf of that people, who having preserved Christianity, are yet unhappily separated from the Church. Pray for unity and peace among Christians; and all schisms being healed, they may be all of one spirit and one mind.
The persecution
being very severe, though he earnestly desired to suffer for Christ,
yet he retired into a cave, that he might, in that shelter, be capable of giving
some assistance to his people. But, being discovered, he was seized by
Agricolaus, president under Dioclesian: and after many torments, put to
death by the sword. Pray for patience under all trials, both for yourself and others. Pray that you may learn the true practice of retiring in time of persecution and danger: and remember that the persecution of friends is many times much greater than that of enemies. You are oftener in danger from flattery, than from the sword. While the one threatens your body, and the other your soul, consider whether in this there be not the greater obligation of withdrawing. Pray then for this grace, that you may be ever upon the watch, in observing the many snares and occasions of sin,
into which your most familiar acquaintance are apt to draw you. Happy
are you, if you choose rather to lie hid, than expose yourself to
danger. In this you may disoblige friends, and provoke their raillery;
but you will certainly please God, and draw down plenty of heavenly blessings on your head: and is not this the more Christian part? The courage and constancy of the martyrs condemn your weak resolutions, your pusillanimity and cowardice in the pursuit of virtue. But now at least begin your conversion with great fervour." The Catholic Year by Rev. Fr. John Gother
"When St. Blase arrived at the city and was presented to the governor, he was commanded to sacrifice to the immortal gods. The saint answered: "What a title for your demons, who can bring only evil on their worshipers! There is only One Immortal God, and Him do I adore." Agricolaus, infuriated at this answer, caused the saint to undergo a scourging so prolonged and cruel that it was thought the saint could not possibly survive it; but having endured this torture with placid courage, he was sent to prison, where he continued to work miracles so extraordinary that the governor ordered him to be again lacerated with iron hooks." Source: Victories of the Martyrs: Or, The Lives of the Most Celebrated Martyrs of the Church, Saint Alphonse de Liguori
"The iron combs, hooks, racks, swords, and scaffolds, which were purpled with the blood of the martyrs, are eternal proofs of their invincible courage and constancy in the divine service. But are they not at the same time subjects of our condemnation and confusion? How weak are our resolutions! How base our pusillanimity and cowardice in the pursuit of virtue! We have daily renewed our most sacred baptismal engagements, and our purposes of faithfully serving God; these we have often repeated at the feet of God's ministers, and in presence of his holy altars, and we have often begun our conversion with great fervor. Yet these fair blossoms were always nipped in the bud; for want of constancy we soon fell back into our former sloth and disorders, adding to our other prevarications that of base infidelity. Instead of encountering gibbets and wild beasts, we were scared at the sight of the least difficulty, or we had not the courage to make the least sacrifice of our passions, or to repulse the weakest and most contemptible assaults of the world. Its example, or that dangerous company from which we had not resolution to separate ourselves, carried us away; and we had not the courage to withstand those very maxims which we ourselves condemn in the moments of our serious reflections as contrary to the spirit of the Gospel. Perhaps we often flew back for fear of shadows, and out of apprehensions frequently imaginary, lest we should forfeit some temporal advantage, some useful or agreeable friend. Perhaps we were overcome by the difficulties which arose barely from ourselves, and wanted resolution to deny our senses, to subdue our passions, to renounce dangerous occasions, or to enter upon a penitential life. Blinded by self-love, have we not sheltered our dastardly pusillanimity under the cloak of pretended necessity, or even virtue?"Source: St. Blaise (The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume 1 , Alban Butler p 46)
Prayer:
"O glorious Saint Blaise, who by thy martyrdom didst leave to the Church a precious witness to the faith, obtain of us the grace to preserve within ourselves this divine gift, and to defend, without human respect, both by word and example, the truth of that same faith, which is so wickedly attacked and slandered in these our times. Thou who didst miraculously restore a little child when it was at the point of death by reason of an affliction of the throat, grant us thy mighty protection in like misfortunes; and, above all, obtain for us the grace of Christian mortification together with a faithful observance of the precepts of the Church, which may keep us from offending Almighty God. Amen."
Source: Dom Gueranger