February 3 is the feast of St. Blaise, bishop of Sebastea in Armenia and martyr of the early 4th century. The Acta say he was a physician before he was a bishop, and that he retired to a cave in the wilderness during the persecution of Licinius. He was arrested, tortured with the carding combs used for wool, and beheaded. The cult spread rapidly through the Eastern and Western churches, and is attested in the West by the 8th century.
The blessing of throats on February 3 — two crossed candles held against the throat, with the prayer "Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat" — is one of the most widespread popular blessings in the Church. The tradition comes from the story that Blaise, before his martyrdom, healed a boy who was choking on a fishbone. The blessing is given in every Catholic parish on or near February 3.
The relics of Blaise are venerated at the Cathedral of Dubrovnik, in Croatia, where the feast of St. Blaise (Sveti Vlaho) is the great civic festival of the city and has been kept continuously since 972. From Croatia, where he is patron of Dubrovnik, to every parish where throats are blessed on February 3, the feast is the feast of the bishop who healed the choking child.
