The Blessing of Throats will take place at all the Masses on Sunday, February 4, in celebration of the Feast of St. Blaise.
Little is known about St. Blaise, a 4th-century bishop who died a martyr. He was forced to flee due to religious persecution. While hiding in a cave, legend has it that he was discovered by a group of hunters, who found him surrounded by wild animals he had tamed. The hunters dragged him off to prison. On the way, he encountered a mother with a young son who had a bone stuck in his throat. Blaise commanded the bone be dislodged, and the child coughed up the bone.
St. Blaise's feast day is celebrated with the Blessing of the Throats with the following prayer: "Through the intercession of St. Blaise, 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. Amen."