Saint Januarius, (),
Bishop of Naples, is a
martyr saint of both the
Roman Catholic and the
Eastern Orthodox Churches. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later sources and legends claim that he died during the
Diocletianic Persecution, which ended with Diocletian's retirement in 305.
Saint Januarius is the patron of
Naples, where faithful gather three times a year to witness the alleged liquefaction of a sample of his blood kept in a sealed glass
ampoule.
Biography
Little is known of the life of Januarius,
[Thurston, Herbert (1910) "Saint Januarius" entry in The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. accessed on 2009-06-20.] and what follows is mostly derived from later Christian sources, such as the
Acta bononiensa (BHL 4132, not earlier than 6th century) and the
Acta Vaticana (BHL 4115, 9th century), and from later-developing folk tradition.
The earliest extant mention of him is contained in a 432 letter by
Uranius, bishop of Nola on the death of his mentor Saint
Paulinus of Nola, where it is stated that the ghosts of Januarius and
Saint Martin appeared to Paulinus three days before the latter's death on 431. About Januarius, the account says only that he was "bishop as well as martyr, an illustrious member of the Neapolitan church" The Acta Bononensia says that "At Pozzuoli in Campania [is honored the memory] of the holy martyrs Januarius, Bishop of Beneventum, Festus his
deacon, and Desiderius
lector, together with
Sossius deacon of the church of
Misenum,
Proculus deacon of Pozzuoli, Eutyches and Acutius, who after chains and imprisonment were beheaded under the Emperor
Diocletian".
Legends about his life and death
According to various Christian legends, he was allegedly born in
Benevento to a rich patrician family that traced its descent to the
Caudini tribe of the
Samnites. At a young age of 15, he became local priest of his parish in Benevento, which at the time was relatively
pagan. When Januarius was 20, he became Bishop of
Naples and befriended
Juliana of Nicomedia and
Saint Sossius whom he met during his priestly studies as young boys. During the one and a half year-long persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian he hid his fellow Christians and prevented them from being caught. Unfortunately, while visiting Sossius in jail, he too was arrested. He and his colleagues were condemned to be thrown to wild bears in the
Flavian Amphitheater at
Pozzuoli, but the sentence was changed due to fear of public disturbances, and they were beheaded instead. Other legends says that the wild beasts refused to eat them, and also that he was thrown into a furnace but came out unscathed. The beheading is claimed to have taken place at the
Solfatara crater near Pozzuoli.
Relics
According to an early
hagiography,
[Hagiographic sources are compiled in "Acta Sanctorum Septembris, Tomus Sextis," new ed. J. Carnandet, ed. (Paris 1867:761-892); a condensed account of the removals of the relics is given by Diana Norman, "The Succorpo in the Cathedral of Naples: 'Empress of All Chapels'", Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 49.3 (1986:323-355).] his relics were transferred by order of
Saint Severus,
Bishop of Naples, to the
Neapolitan catacombs "extra moenia," "outside the walls". In the early tenth century the body was moved to
Beneventum by
Sico, prince of Benevento, with the head remaining in Naples. Subsequently, during the turmoil at the time of
Frederick Barbarossa, his body was moved again, this time to the
Abbey of Montevergine where it was rediscovered in 1480.
At the instigation of Cardinal
Oliviero Carafa, his body was finally transferred in 1497 to
Naples, where he is the city's
patron saint. Carafa commissioned a richly decorated
crypt, the
Succorpo, beneath the cathedral to properly house the reunited body and head. The
"Succorpo" was finished in 1506 and is considered one of the prominent monuments of the
High Renaissance in the city.
Cult
St Januarius'
feast day is celebrated on September 19, in the calendar of the Catholic Church. In the Eastern Church it is celebrated on April 21. The city of
Naples has more than fifty official
patron saints, although its principal patron is Saint Januarius.
[ ].
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.
The Blood Miracle
Saint Januarius is famous for the reputed
miracle of the annual liquefaction of his
blood, which, according to legend, was saved by a woman called
Eusebia just after the saint's death. Thousands of people assemble to witness this event in the cathedral of Naples, three times a year: on September 19 (Saint Januarius day, to commemorate his martyrdom), on December 16 (to celebrate his patronage of both Naples and of the archdiocese), and on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May (to commemorate the reunification of his relics).
Description of the ritual
The dried blood is stored in two hermetically sealed small
ampoules, held since the 17th century in a
silver reliquary between two round glass plates about 12 cm wide. The smaller ampoule, of cylindrical shape, contains only a few reddish spots on its walls (the bulk having allegedly been removed and taken to
Spain by
Charles III). The larger ampoule, with capacity of about 60
ml and almond-shaped, is about 60% filled with a dark reddish substance.
[ (in Italian)] Separate reliquaries hold bone fragments believed to be of St. Januarius.
For most of the time, the ampoules are kept in a bank's vault, whose keys are held by a commission of local notables, including the
Mayor of Naples; while the bones are kept in a
crypt under the main altar of the
Duomo of Naples. On feast days, all these relics are taken in procession from the Duomo to the
Monastery of Santa Chiara, where the
archbishop holds the reliquary up and tilts it to show that the contents is solid, and places it on the high altar next to the Saint's other relics. After intense prayers by the faithful --- including the so-called "relatives of Saint Januarius" (
parenti di San Gennaro), the content of the larger vial typically liquefies. The archbishop then holds up the vial and tilts it again to demonstrate that liquefaction has taken place. The announcement of the liquefaction is greeted with a
21-gun salute at the 13th-century
Castel Nuovo. The ampoules remains exposed on the altar for eight days, while the priests move or turn them periodically to show that the contents remains liquid.
The liquefaction sometimes takes place almost immediately, but can take hours or even days.
A chronicle of Naples written in 1382 describes the cult of St. Januarius in detail, but mentions neither the relic nor the miracle.
[ (1382) Croniche de Inclyta Cità de Napole In Altamura, Antonio (ed.), Cronaca di Partenope, Napoli, 1974] The first recorded reference to the 'miracle of the blood' was in 1389..
Catholic Church's position
While the Catholic Church has always supported the celebrations, it has never formulated an official statement on the phenomenon, and maintains a neutral stance about scientific investigations.
After the
II Vatican Council, it even considered removing St. Januarius (together with other saints of uncertain historicity) from the liturgical calendar, but popular pressure made it retain the Saint's veneration as a local cult.
St. Alphonsus Liguori wrote regarding St Januarius:
"The Neapolitans honor this saint as the principal patron of their city and nation, and the Lord himself has continued to honor him, by allowing many miracles to be wrought through his intercession, particularly when the frightful eruptions of Mount Vesuvius have threatened the city of Naples with utter destruction. While the relics of St. Januarius were being brought in procession towards this terrific volcano, the torrents of lava and liquid fire which it emitted have ceased, or turned their course from the city. But the most stupendous miracle, and that which is greatly celebrated in the church, is the liquefying and boiling up of this blessed martyr's blood whenever the vials are brought in sight of his head. This miracle is renewed many times in the year, in presence of all who desire to witness it; yet some heretics have endeavored to throw a doubt upon its genuineness, by frivolous and incoherent explanations; but no one can deny the effect to be miraculous, unless he be prepared to question the evidence of his senses."
John Henry Cardinal Newman also attested to the veracity of the miracle of liquefaction:
"I think it impossible to withstand the evidence which is brought for the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius at Naples and for the motion of the eyes in the pictures of the Madonna in the Papal States."
Scientific studies and other theories
The reality of the phenomenon is attested by innumerable witnesses, and is widely accepted even by researchers who are skeptic about the relic's origin and associated supernatural claims.
A willful fraud is also considered unlikely, given the long history of the phenomenon and the intense scrutiny to which is has been submitted.
The owners of the relics do not allow the vials to be opened, for fear that doing so may cause irreparable damage. A spectroscopic analysis performed in 1902 by Gennaro Sperindeo e Raffaele Januario claimed that the spectrum was consistent with
hemoglobin. Another analysis, with similar conclusions, was performed in 1989. However, the reliability of those observations has been questioned.
While clotted blood can be liquefied by mechanical stirring, the resulting suspension cannot solidify again.
Measurements made in 1900 and 1904 claimed that the ampoules' weight increased by up to 28 grams during liquefaction. However, later measurements with a precision balance, performed over five years, failed to detect any variation.
Various suggestions for the content's composition have been advanced, such as a material that is
photosensitive,
hygroscopic, or has a low melting point. However, these explanations run into technical difficulties, such as the variability of the phenomenon and it being unrelated to ambient temperature.
A recent theory by Garlaschelli, Ramaccini, and Della Sala is that the vial contains a
thixotropic gel.
[;] In such a substance viscosity increases if left unstirred and decreases if stirred or moved. Researchers have proposed specifically a suspension of
hydrated iron oxide, FeO(OH), which reproduces the color and behavior of the 'blood' in the ampule. The suspension can be prepared from simple chemicals that would have been easily available locally since antiquity.
See also
