You're listening to Catholic Sprouts, the daily podcast for Catholic kids that strives to plant seeds of faith.

Hey there, sprouts. Today is Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021. Today is also the feast day of St. Blaze. And St. Blaze is the reason why many churches bless throats on this day.

And if you see a priest today, make sure you ask him for a throat blessing.

What they usually will do is they will take two candles that have been tied together.

They will cross them and place them on either side of your throat and say a blessing.

Now, why do we do this in memory of the great

saint, St. Blaze? Well, St. Blaze lived a long time ago. He lived during the fourth century.

He was a bishop, and he lived during a time of Christian persecution, meaning it was a crime to be a

Christian, and if the authorities captured you,

you would be tortured and probably killed if you did not deny your faith. Well, because of the

religious persecution, St. Blaze fled and he was living in a cave outside of the city.

Legend tells us that while he was there, many animals came to live with him, that he would

bless them, that he lived a life of a hermit in constant prayer.

Well, one day, a woman from the city came to visit St. Blaze, and she was in a terrible, terrible

predicament.

Her son had a fishbone wedged in his throat.

He was choking. It was very serious. Well, St. Blaze walked over to him, placed his hands on the boy's throat, prayed, and miraculously the bone popped out. Because of this, we still bless

throats in honor of St. Blaze. Unfortunately, the authorities found St. Blaze. They arrested

him and he died a martyr for the faith. But even since the day when he was killed, he has been lifted up as a great saint,

a great prayerful man and a great example of staying true to Jesus Christ no matter what.

Now, Spouts, this week we have been talking about Christ's journey from Mount Tabor, where the

transfiguration appeared

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