Januarius

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Januarius is the name of the month in the ancient Roman calendar, called January in English.

Januarius is the name of one of the sons of Saint Felicitas of Rome.

Saint Januarius, or San Gennaro, bishop of Benevento, is a saint and martyr in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. According to legendary sources, he died in 305 during the persecution of Diocletian near Puteoli at the sulphur mines near the Solfatara, where he was visiting imprisoned deacons. He was beheaded along with many other companions (see Saint Proculus of Pozzuoli). His body was later transferred to Naples, of which he is now the patron saint.

He retains his feast day, September 19, in the calendar of the Catholic Church and in the new calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church, despite very limited information about his life and works, primarily due to the reputed miracle of the annual liquefication of his blood. The dried blood is safely stored in small capsules in a reliquary. When these capsules are brought into the vicinity of his body on his feast day or on the Saturday before the 1st Sunday in May, the dried blood becomes liquid.

Critics[1] however, suggest it is not blood but rather a thixotropic gel, such as hydrated iron oxide, or FeO(OH). In such a substance viscosity increases if left unstirred and decreases if stirred or moved. [2][3] "It should also be noted that since the fourteenth century there have been several additional saints' bloods that liquefy all in the Naples area and thus suggestive of some regional secret."(Joe Nickell) [4]

This Spire of San Gennaro in Naples is the work of Baroque archictect Cosimo Fanzago

Thousands of persons assemble to witness this event in the cathedral of Naples each year. The archbishop, at the high altar amid prayers and invocations holds up a glass phial that is said to contain the dried blood of San Gennaro, the city’s patron saint, and declares that it has liquefied. The announcement of the liquefaction is greeted with a 21-gun salute at the 13th-century Castel Nuovo.

Martyrdom of Saint Januarius (1727) by Girolamo Pesce (1679-1759)

The ceremony takes place in May and December as well as on San Gennaro’s feast day in September. The first recorded reference to the “miracle of the blood” was in 1389.

For the Italian population of Little Italy, Manhattan, and other New Yorkers, the Feast of San Gennaro is a highlight of the year, when the saint's polychrome statue is carried through the streets and a blocks-long street fair ensues.