Januarius, St.
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Januarius, St.: (b. Italy; d. cAD 305). Christian martyr. Having become bishop of Beneventum (mod. Benevento) during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian, he became caught up in the great persecution against the Christians. When some local Christians were arrested, Januarius, accompanied by his deacon and lictor (Saints Eutychius and Acutius), went to visit the prisoners only to be seized themselves. The Christians were condemned to death and sentenced to be thrown to the wild beasts. When the animals left them unharmed, the sentence was changed to beheading. Following the executions a Christian woman named Eusebia secretly collected some of Januarius’s blood which remained on the beheading stone. She brought the “relic” to the Bishop of Naples and it eventually came to be stored in the Cathedral at Naples. In 1389, the “miracle of St. Januarius’s blood” was first mentioned in the historic record. Twice each year the vial said to contain the blood is brought forth in the Cathedral. Within the vial can be seen a dried red-colored substance which, after a period of time (and some jiggling), liquefies. It is believed that so long as the miracle occurs, Naples remains safe. Failure of the so-called “blood” to liquefy, as has been known to happen on rare occasions, means disaster. The substance within the vial has never been reliably examined scientifically. Modern chemists have stated that it was possible for their medieval counterparts to create a substance resembling blood in appearance which would remain a solid when at rest but would liquefy when agitated. Interestingly, the “miracle” of liquefaction has occurred at least 7 times while jewelers were repairing the reliquary in which the blood is kept. It also created no small amount of embarrassment when, in 1799, the liquefaction occurred indicating that the saint had given his blessing to the new, but short-lived Parthenopean Republic. Januarius nearly lost his status as patron because of this when the Republic was overthrown a few months later.