St Blaise, Hansel and Gretel, and Englebert Humperdinck
St Blaise , Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc, Czech Republic [ Wikipedia ] When I was a child growing up in Dublin the blessing of throats on the feast of St Blaise took place only in the Franciscan and Capuchin churches, as I recall. Apart from my memory, the only evidence I have been able to find of this is from a bulletin of the Augustinian church in Limerick, Ireland, a year ago: For many centuries devotion to St. Blaise, a fourth century Armenian bishop, had almost completely disappeared. It was kept alive in some Franciscan churches. On the 4th February 2004 the Limerick Chronicle published a picture in its memory section, a clear photograph of a long queue in the local Franciscan church lining up for the blessing of the throats on the Feast of St Blaise. The Friars stood in the sanctuary for the entire day ministering the healing of this popular saint to those who streamed ...