BLASE, a bishop of Sebasta in Cappadocia in the second and third centuries, who suffered death by decapitation under Diocletian, after undergoing flagellation, and having his flesh torn off with iron combs. He is a person of great note among the vulgar, who, in their processions connected with the woollen trade, generally carry a representation of him as the inventor or patron of the art of wool combing, though that art must have been known long before his time. This popular observance probably had its origin in the circumstance of the saint having been tortured by instruments resembling those used in combing wool.