11. A piece of St. Blaise’s foot lives in a foot-shaped reliquary in France, and another in Dubrovnik.
Like Januarius, no one really knows anything about St. Blaise, and even the dates of his birth and death are a mystery. He is said to have been knocking about in the 4th century, and to have been a bishop in Armenia who was executed by the nasty Romans. The story goes that he hid in a cave during the persecution of Christians, and healed sick people and animals who visited him. He was eventually discovered by hunters, presented to the local prefect, Agricola, and had his flesh torn off with hot iron combs, which unsurprisingly proved fatal.
All saints have a particular strength in miracles, and St Blaise is often prayed to for help with throat ailments, sick animals, or skin conditions, due to the miracles he performed whilst alive and his grisly death. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about his feet, but strangely there are two pieces of them in Europe that are particularly venerated. The one in France (above) lives in an ornate foot-shaped reliquary, and the one in Dubrovnik, where he is especially popular, lives in a similar container. Appropriately enough, the latter is carried through the streets every year… on foot.
