artyr, may God deliver thee from
all ills of the throat and from all other ills; in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." Do not neglect to
receive this blessing, if you have the opportunity. The blessings of the
Church are powerful and effective, for she is God's representative on
earth. Therefore her blessing is God's blessing, and is always
effective, except we ourselves place an obstacle in its way.

_Prayer of the Church_

O GOD, who dost rejoice us through the memory of Thy blessed bishop and
martyr Blase: graciously grant us, that we, who honor his memory, may
experience his protection. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

III

St. Erasmus, Bishop and Martyr

LEGEND

THE pious historians of the early Christian times state, as a rule, only
what the saints did and suffered for the Faith, and how they died. They
deemed the martyrs' glorious combat and their victorious entrance into
heaven more instructive, and therefore more important, than a lengthy
description of their lives.

Hence we know little of the native place and the youth of St. Erasmus,
except that at the beginning of the fourth century of the Christian era
he was bishop of Antioch in Asia Minor, the city where the name of
"Christian" first came into use. When a long and cruel persecution broke
out under the Emperor Diocletian, St. Erasmus hid himself in the
mountains of the Libanon, and led there, for some years, an austere life
of penance and fasting. Finally he was discovered and dragged before the
judge.

At first, persuasions and kindness were employed to induce him to deny
the Faith, but when these efforts failed recourse was had to the most
cruel torments. He was scourged, and finally cast into a caldron filled
with boiling oil, sulphur, and pitch. In this seething mass God
preserved him from harm, and by this miracle many spectators were
converted to the Faith. Still more enraged thereat, the judge ordered
the holy bishop to be thrown into prison and kept there in chains till
he died of starvation. But God delivered him, as He had once delivered
St. Peter. One night an angel appeared to him and said: "Erasmus, follow
me! Thou shalt convert a great many." Thus far he had led numbers to the
Faith by suffering, now he was to convert multitudes as a missionary.

Delivered from prison by the power of God, he went forth into many lands
and preached the Faith. Mighty in word and deed, he wrought many
miracles a