Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Blaise, a bishop and martyr in the early Church. In fact, he lived in the late third and early fourth century, and he was the bishop of Sebaste, a city in ancient Armenia, modern-day eastern Turkey. According to early Christian tradition, this martyr was originally a physician known both for medical skill and deep Christian faith. Before being chosen as a bishop during periods of persecution, Saint Blaise would withdraw to the mountains and the caves, and he lived a life of prayer and asceticism. Tradition says that wild animals gathered peacefully around him and that he would heal even those wounded among them, an image that later made him a patron saint of animals and veterinarians as well.