Saint Blaise of Caesarea – Bukolos

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.