St. Blaise the guy

St. Blaise was a 3rd century martyr from what is now Turkey, but was Sebastea when he was around. He was a physician and a bishop. Wikipedia tells us this about him:

"In iconography, Blaise is often shown with the instruments of his martyrdom, steel combs. He blessed throats and effected many miracles, according to his hagiography. The similarity of these instruments of torture to wool combs led to his adoption as the patron saint of wool combers in particular, and the wool trade in general. He may also be depicted with crossed candles. Such crossed candles are used for the blessing of throats on the feast day of Blaise, which falls on 3 February, the day after Candlemas on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints. Blaise is traditionally believed to intercede in cases of throat illnesses, especially for fish-bones stuck in the throat."

He is my new favorite saint. I am also fond of St. Catherine, and learning about St. Blaise has sent me to the inner nets to learn about other saints and the interesting instruments of their martrydoms.

Here are some depictions of St. Blaise. Most of the images show him with his boring crossed candles for blessing throats. I much prefer the images showing his wool combs.