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HEATHEN SUPERSTITION

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Mar 4, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 9.

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HEATHEN SUPERSTITION.

By Editor

IT was not three thousand years ago, but only about three weeks ago; and it was not in Africa or China but in San Francisco, that a heathen ceremony was performed, which for childish superstition equals anything that was ever done by an African tribe. It was the occasion of the feast of "Saint Blase," one of the innumerable saints which Catholic tradition has manufactured. It seems that he is the patron invoked by Catholics against throat diseases. The story of the mythical saint, and the account of the feast in his honor, which is given with all seriousness in the San Francisco Chronicle of February 4, is too long for publication entire, but we give a portion of it. Having spoken of his capture, the report continues:—
"In prison his good works did not cease, and many were brought to him to be cured of diseases. Among the number who came to him on account of his reputation for saintliness, was a youth whose life was despaired of by physicians, and who was at the point of death from a thorn that had become fixed in his throat. The saint, when the boy came before him, made the sign of the cross, and the pain disappeared, the cause being immediately removed. From that time Saint Blase was regarded as the particular curer of throats, and the services yesterday were commemorative of the miracle he performed in prison. After remaining in confinement for a time, he was summoned before the President, who offered many inducements to him to renounce his faith. All were steadily refused, and the saint and martyr was beaten with rods, put on the rack, and lacerated with iron combs. He was beheaded on February 3, 316. He is the patron saint of the wool-combers, and his festival is still kept in parts of England.
"This miraculous cure of the boy, and others that come indistinctly to the late chroniclers through the mist of ages, are the evidences on which St. Blase is made the patron invoked for the protection of throats.
"At St. Ignatius Church many hundreds of people, men and women and children, knelt at the sanctuary rail to be touched by the holy candles, which, through the intercession of the bishop and martyr, have the power of protecting against the manifold diseases that attack the throat. After the celebration of mass in the forenoon the observance of the feast began, and, with the exception of the hour for vespers, was continued until night.
"The ceremonies opened with the blessing of the candles, which were fastened together in the form of a V. Held by the priests they were placed under the chins of the people and held there while the celebrant repeated the prayer:—'Almighty and merciful God, who hast created everything by thy word, and for the reformation of men hast permitted the same word to become flesh; thou, who art grand and terrible; thou, for whose faith the glorious bishop and martyr, St. Blase, did not fear to suffer various kinds of torments, we humbly pray thy most high Majesty to bless these candles on his festival day, and we supplicate thee to sanctify all whose throats are touched with the waxen tapers. Sanctify them, that they may be made free from all throat diseases, and that they may in the holy church give thanks and benediction.'
"The church was crowded with worshipers throughout the day, and at the sanctuary rail there was always a kneeling body of the faithful. Parents held up their little ones to be protected, and then received the blessing themselves; old men and women were assisted to the church so that they might receive the benefits of the saint's intercession. A number of priests were engaged performing the ceremony, and the highest and lowest in the parish participated in the blessing."
The ancient heathen had divinities that presided over the different functions of the body, and over the seasons, the animals, and the various crops, as well as over the arts and sciences. Perhaps the most commonly known is Beelzebub, the god of flies. For every occupation and for every calamity, some particular god had to be invoked and appeased. This invoking of St. Blase is but a continuation of that same heathen practice.
We do not wish anyone to think that in thus characterizing this Roman Catholic ceremony we are speaking contemptuously of those who participate in it. We call it a heathen ceremony, because that is just what it is. To say that one is a heathen, does not necessarily imply that he is totally ignorant and uncultured, for the ancient Greeks were highly cultured and educated, yet they were heathen. They didn't know God. It may be said that these pray to God, and believe in only one God. Many of the ancient heathen believed in one supreme God over all, and that is all that these modern heathen do; for they make gods of their so-called saints.
To show that this "St. Blase" is really worshiped as a god, and is invested with the attributes of God, it is only necessary to call attention to one thing; On the 3d of February he was worshiped in San Francisco; but since he is the patron of all Catholics, for throat diseases, he was doubtless invoked in all Catholic countries throughout the world, at the same time. But unless he is considered omnipresent, this could not be done. And so the very fact that all Catholics look to him for protection, is evidence that they consider him as a god. The same is true with regard to all Catholic "saints" and the Virgin Mary.
People sometimes tell us that the increasing light and education of the nineteenth century are going to finish all superstition; but this doesn't show much progress in that direction. They tell us also that it would be impossible in this enlightened age to have a repetition of the scenes of the Dark Ages. But if that were so, they ought to be able to show us a change in the character of the people, and this they cannot do. Superstition has as strong a hold on people to-day as it ever had, and it holds the higher classes just as strongly as it does the lower.
One thing should not be overlooked, because it shows the power of the Catholic Church, and the subserviency of the public press to it. That is, the space that was devoted to a serious description of that Catholic mummery. Not one word of adverse criticism was uttered; nothing to show that the proprietor of the paper is not a devout Catholic, instead of an infidel. Suppose it had been the Salvation Army, or some small body of Christians that do not exercise political power; in that case the ridicule would have been unstinted. Votes and money are what count in these days, and it is not safe to predict failure for any enterprise or organization that can command these. w.