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Commemorated on February 3
Saint Blaise of
Caesarea – Bukolos – lived in the III Century. He hailed from Caesarea
Cappadocia (Asia Minor) and was a shepherd (in Greek "bukolos").
When began a
persecution against christians, Saint Blaise virtuously gave himself over into
the hands of the torturers. They subjected him to torture, and beat him with
leather thongs, but the Lord healed his wounds. They then threw Blaise into a
cauldron of boiling water, but he remained there unharmed. The pagan soldiers,
seeing this miracle, came to believe in Christ Jesus.
The governor, wishing
to show that the martyr remained unharmed because the water had cooled, jumped
into the cauldron and died.
Having brought many
to faith in Christ, Saint Blaise peacefully offered up his soul to God. They
thrust the shepherd's staff of the saint into the ground, and it grew up into
an huge tree, which covered with its branches the altar of a church built over
his relics.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
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