BLESSING OF THROATS

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 April 1927, Page 5

BLESSING OF THROATS

QUAINT SCENE IN CRYPT. So large was the number-of people who were anxious to have their throats blessed at St. Etheldreda’s Church, London, during a lunch-time service recently, that the crypt was opened to accommodate the overflow. People who had had, or were fearing to have, any kind of throat trouble tilled the beatuiful old church, and the Blessing of St. Blaise, as it was given in the candle-lit 600-years-old crypt, was one. of the most picturesque ceremohies ever seen in London. After the service of Benediction, those who wished to be blessed were asked to approach the altar. Elderly business men, poor charwomen, girl clerks, school-children, well-dressed women who had come to the church

by ear, knelt, together at the altar and said this prayer: — “O Glorious St. Blaise, who with a short prayer didst restore to perfect, safety a child at the point of death from a fish-bone fixed in its throat, grant that we may all feel the power of thy patronage in every malady of the throat. . . ” Holding two candles in the form of a Si. Andrew’s cross the priest touched the throats of the kneeling suppliants in turn, saying to each, “May the Lord deliver you from the Evil of the Throat, and from every other evil.” The priest. pauseiL»to add a prayer for every individual who, after a few seconds of silent, thanksgiving al the altar, quietly left to make room for.the crowds who were waiting their turn. The blessing is given each, vear on the saint’s feast day' at St. Etheldlreda’s, a ceremony which is one of the most, ancient in the Church.