Winona-Rochester Bishop Robert Barron ended National Catholic Schools Week with a couple of high notes.

“Friends, to cap Catholic Schools Week, I celebrated Mass for the Cotter Schools at the glorious Basilica of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Winona,” Barron tweeted recently. “As today is the feast of St. Blaise, we also had a blessing of throats. St. Blaise, pray for us!”

Globally, Catholics observe numerous devotions to God that have been passed on through generations by the Holy Mother Church, a Simply Catholic report said. These acts, practices, and rituals remain consistent despite variations in customs, languages, politics and other elements.

In honor of St. Blaise, church leaders perform throat blessings, which are optional devotions; Simply Catholic said. St. Blaise’s Feast Day is celebrated on Feb. 3 in the Western Church and on Feb. 11 in the Eastern Church.

Blaise, a bishop and physician who died a martyr, was born in the fourth century in Western Armenia; the Simply Catholic report said. He gained popularity for miraculously curing a boy who was choking on a fishbone. Thus, St. Blaise became linked to protection from throat illnesses and the tradition of receiving throat blessings in his honor. The Western Church had invoked his name for throat ailments as early as the ninth century; and by the 15th century, the throat blessing ritual had been established.

The blessing of St. Blaise involves a simple ceremony performed by a priest, Simply Catholic said. Two candles, symbolizing the throat, are blessed and then placed against the throats of those seeking the blessing. The priest also recites a prayer for the protection and well-being of the throat. The candles are held in the shape of a "X" to reflect the martyrdom of another saint, St. Andrew, who tradition holds was crucified on an X-shaped cross. The crimson ribbon symbolizes the blood of martyrs.