Picture this: A distraught mother rushes up to her saintly bishop and begins pleading with him to save the life of her child. The young son is choking to death on a fishbone. His face and lips are blue.

The bishop takes great pity, but doesn’t panic. He recalls that Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). He goes to the boy and prays. Miraculously, the fishbone is dislodged and the boy begins to breathe normally.

Shortly after facilitating this miracle, the bishop — St. Blase of Sebaste, in Armenia — becomes a martyr. He is beheaded during the persecution of Emperor Licinius in 316.

The Church’s steady account of this event through the centuries lies behind its popular custom — one of the most curious to non-Catholics — of blessing people’s throats each Feb. 3, St. Blase’s feast day.

And there’s more to the tradition than asking the saint’s intercession in warding off maladies between our mouths and chests.

Having our throats blessed on the feast of St. Blase is a wonderful way to remind us of the powerfully specific intercession of the saints: True brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, they are concerned not only for our salvation and sanctification, but also with the day-to-day details of our lives.

Plus the blessing of the throats reminds us of the importance of sacramentals and of other centuries-old Church traditions.

“It’s always amazing to me when we bless throats and give out ashes that many times more people come to Mass,” says Father Pat Umberger, pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in Onalaska, Wis. “Sometimes I think it’s because of the memories they have of the nurturing of the Church from their childhood that calls them back and makes those things meaningful to them.”

Surely there’s that secure feeling when the priest presses the two blessed candles up to our throat and prays, “Through the intercession of Saint Blase, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from ailments of the throat and from every other evil: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Father Umberger stresses that sacramentals are one of the first things we can pass on to our children — even before they receive first holy Communion. He vividly remembers receiving the St. Blase blessing as a child.

“I remember being very proud to go up with my parents and receive what they were receiving,” he recalls. “I was hungry for the Eucharist, but some of the sacramentals were things I could take part in already.”

Intriguing Intercessions

Even the tiniest tots can get in on the blessing. Father Umberger always finds it beautiful to bless the throats of little babies.

 “People say that’s crazy because the baby doesn’t know what’s going on,” he explains. “But the parents do. For the parents it becomes a comfort.”

It can quietly impart special graces on the child, too.

“In very simple ways, they learn to love God and Jesus,” Father Umberger points out. “Then the faith becomes more profound as they grow up.”

The blessing of throats is a reminder that God is with us in all our challenges and illnesses, says Father Umberger. It also can be effective. After the service, people never fail to tell him they haven’t had a sore throat all year.

Theresa Carlson of Kankakee, Ill., says she knows how meaningful it can be to have her family’s throats blessed.

Last year, after one daily Mass at St. Teresa Church, her youngest child, Anna, then 3, was choking on a large piece of hard candy. An older woman who goes daily to Mass was there, and she took over before the emergency vehicle arrived.

“She gave Anna the Heimlich maneuver and saved her,” says a grateful Theresa. “It may have been St. Blase who interceded for her; I did not put that together at the time. We also relied on the Holy Spirit on that one.”

But she and her husband, Paul, believe in the intercession of the saints — and they have always taken their seven children for the blessing of throats.

“All the Church’s feast days give a sense of meaning and direction in your life,” she points out. “You get a sense of comfort in belonging to the Church and knowing there are people beyond this life who can intercede for you.”

Breath of Life

Some children at Nativity of Our Lord Catholic School in Broomfield, Colo., have their St. Blase stories, too.

“One of our fifth-grade students had a younger sister who had serious recurrent choking problems,” explains Laurine Halter, the school’s principal. The girl choked on everything and the family was constantly worried about “the big one.”

“One time, when she was seriously choking on a piece of fruit,” recalls Halter, “the sister in fifth grade actually prayed to St. Blase to get rid of it.” Sure enough, “the sibling coughed it up.”

The rest of that year, after attending the St. Blase blessing of throats, the youngster never choked again, reports a relieved older sister.

Halter shares another young student’s wise take on the blessing.

“She relies on St. Blase,” reports the principal, “so no bad words ever come up out of her throat.”

Every year Nativity School’s teachers prepare all 473 students for the St. Blase day blessing.

“Our school wants to develop and form young Catholic students so they know not only what the Church believes but why we believe,” says Halter. “We want them to know why this is important.”

In this case it also teaches them they can rely on a saint to intercede for them. “Church isn’t something they do,” she says. “It’s something they live here.”

One practical matter to take into account: Make sure little children aren’t fearful. Some think the candles are going to be lit when placed at their throat.

Father Umberger reminds us these blessed candles are tied to form a cross. The red ribbons remind us of the blood St. Blase shed as a martyr. The candles remind us of the Easter candle, our baptismal candle and that Christ is the light.

“The sacramentals are reminders of God’s love for us and God’s protection and call for us to love each other,” says Father Umberger. “God always wants to draw close to us and, through the use of such sacramentals as the St. Blase candles, we can allow that to happen or dispose ourselves to what God wants to give us.”

Joseph Pronechen writes from

Trumbull, Connecticut.