JANUARIUS, ST.

Martyr of Benevento, well known because of the liquefaction of a phial of his blood in the Cathedral of Naples; Januarius (or Gennaro) is believed to have been martyred in the diocletian persecution of 305. Nothing is known of his life although a legendary passio narrates that after being thrown to the bears (ad ursas ) in the amphitheater of Pozzuoli, he was decapitated together with the deacons Sossus, Festus, and Proculus, and Desiderius the lector. Januarius is mentioned by gregory of tours and by bede. His remains are said to have been brought to Naples by Bishop John and placed in the catacomb of Capodimonte. In 831, they were translated to Benevento; in 1154, to Montevirgine; and in 1497, returned to Naples. The passio was translated into Greek in the 10th or 11th century, thus entering the Synaxary of Constantinople.

A dark mass that half fills a hermetically sealed four inch glass container, and is preserved in a double reliquary in the Naples cathedral as the blood of St. Januarius, liquefies 18 times during the year: (1) on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May and the eight following days; (2) on the feast of St. Januarius, and during the octave; and (3) on December 16. This phenomenon goes back to the 14th century when it was mentioned in the chronicle of an unknown Sicilian in 1389 (published by G. de Blasiis, Naples 1887), although tradition connects it with a certain Eusebia, who had allegedly collected the blood after the martyrdom and given the reliquary to the bishop of Naples on the Via Antoniana during the transfer of the body from Pozzuoli to the catacomb. The ceremony accompanying the liquefaction is performed by holding the reliquary close to the altar on which is located what is believed to be the martyr's head. While the people pray, often tumultuously, the priest turns the reliquary up and down in the full sight of the onlookers until the liquefaction takes place. He then announces, "The miracle has happened," and the Te Deum is chanted by the people and clergy.

Various thermal experiments as well as spectroscopic analysis have been applied to the contents of the reliquary; but the phenomenon eludes natural explanation. There are, however, similar miraculous claims made for the blood of SS. john the baptist, stephen the proto-martyr, Pantaleon, Patricia, nicholas of tolentino, and aloysius gonzaga—nearly all in the neighborhood of Naples.

St. Januarius is the patron of Naples, and a vast folklore is connected with his cult. The earliest representation of the saint exists in a catacomb on Capodimonte, where he is depicted praying between two dead persons, and clothed in tunic, pallium, and sandals, and with a nimbus, the Constantinian monogram, the Alpha and Omega, and an inscription. (see chi-rho.) Many churches were erected in his honor and decorated with a bust or pictures of the saint.

Feast: Sept. 19.

Bibliography: p. franchi de' cavalieri, "S. Gennaro vescovo e martire," Note agiografiche 3 (Studi e Testi 24; 1912). h. delehaye, Les Origines du culte des martyrs (2d ed., Brussels 1933) 24–49. g. b. alfano and a. amitrano, Il miraculo di S. Gennario (Naples 1950) with bibliog. a. caserta, Storia e scienca di fronte al miracolo di s. Gennaro (2d ed. Naples 1972). v. paliotti, San Gennaro: storia di un culto, di un mito, dell'anima di un popolo (Milan 1983). m. l. straniero, Indagine su san Gennaro: miracoli, fede, scienza (Milan 1991). archdiocese of naples, San Gennaro: tra fede, arte e mito (Pozzuoli, Italy 1997).

[e. g. ryan]