Shrewsbury, Feb. 18.
_Bishop Blaise_ (No. 16. p. 247.).--Four lives of the martyr Blasius,
Bishop of Sebaste in Cappadocia, are to be found in the Bollandine _Acta
Sanctorum_, under the 3rd of February. It appears that the relics and
worship of this saint were very widely spread through Europe, and some
places seem to have claimed him as indigenous on the strength merely of
possessing one of his toes or teeth. The wool-comb was one of the
instruments with which he was tortured, and having become a symbol of
his martyrdom, gave occasion, it would seem, to the wool-combers to
claim him as their patron, and to ascribe to him the invention of their
art. See Ellis's Brand's _Popular Antiquities_, vol. i. pp. 29, 30; and
query whether the veneration of St. Blaise by these artizans were not
peculiar to England. Blasius of Sebaste is said to have been a
physician; in consequence of the persecution raised by Diocletian, he
retired to a mountain named Argæus, whither all the wild beasts of the
country resorted to him, and reverentially attended him. But there is a
legend of another Blasius of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, who is represented
as an owner of herds ([Greek: boukolos]), and remarkable for his charity
to the poor. His herdsman's staff was planted over the spot where he was
martyred, and grew into an umbrageous tree.
This variation of legends favours the idea that the cultus of Blasius
was founded upon that of some deity worshipped in Cappadocia, whose
rites and attributes may have varied in different localities.