The Blessing of Throats from the Feast of St. Blaise

February 2 is the Feast of the Presentation.  It commemorates the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem as recorded in the Gospel of Luke (2:19-32).  It also has gone by the name "Candlesmass" because of the blessing of candles.  The candles symbolize Christ, who is the Light to the Nations.  Moreover these blessed candles are to encourage in times of darkness and to protect against evil.
 

The Missal envisions the possibility of either a procession of light or a solemn entrance.  At the Stift, we celebrated the Presentation with an evening Mass.  The Provost blessed the candles in the St. Leopold chapel, which houses the Verdun altar.  Thereafter we processed through the cloister into the basilica.   

 

 

At the end of the Candlemass, the newly blessed candles were used for the the first time.  This was to give the famous blessing of St. Blaise.  The blessing of the throat is an example  of our wish to be protected from evil, specifically protection from illness and the suffering that it entails.

• Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Györ in Hungary
   

  
  
   

  
  The novices were invited by the Provost to go on pilgrimage to the nearby Hungarian city of  Györ  to visit the miraculous image of Our Lady of  Györ .  The amazing story of this image begins in Ireland!  In the 17th Century a family of Irish Catholics left their homeland on account of the persecution.  They eventually came to Vienna, where they met the bishop of Györ  and made the image a gift to him and his people, who were likewise familiar with persecution.  On St. Patrick's Day in 1697, at the same time as the last great persecution of the Church in Ireland, the image wept tears for several hours.  The entire town came to venerate the image and the bishop preserved the tears in a reliquary.  Those who witnessed the miracle and testified to it include the governor, the mayor, all the city councilmen, the bishop, priests, Calvinist and Lutheran ministers and a Jewish Rabbi.  Subsequently many favors were received by those who prayed before this miraculous image.

   

  
  
   

  The cathedral also houses the shrine to the martyr-bishop, William Apor, whose cause has been officially opened.  This saintly bishop dedicated his life to his people with particular care to the poor and defenseless.  He was an ardent opponent of both the Nazis and the Commuists, who martyred him in 1945 as he protected the women and girls of Gyor from the predatory designs of the occupying troops.

   

• This week we celebrate the feasts of two canonical saints:
   

  • Feast of St. Gilbert (February 4th)
     

  • Feast of St. Guarinus  (February 7th)