While today, in the coastal town of Naples, Italy, businesses and schools have shut their doors for a public holiday, the city is anything but calm and quiet. Instead, crowds of Neapolitans and visitors from all over crowd in the bustling streets filled with vendors selling food and religious items and the sweet smells of new desserts made just for today wafting through from local pastry shops. The reason for all of this? La Festa di San Gennaro-the Feast of St. Januarius! Devotion to this patron Saint of Naples has been strong for centuries both due to St. Januarius being a local and also to a mysterious event that often takes place on this day. We’ll get to both, but first, who is Saint Januarius?
Saint Januarius was born in the latter part of the 200’s, and at an early age became Bishop of Benevento, a town that today is an hour’s drive from Naples. Under the Emperor Diocletian, Christians were hunted and savagely martyred for professing their faith. According to legend, four of Bishop Januarius’ friends were arrested: two deacons named Sosius and Proculus, and two laymen named Eutyches and Acutius. To encourage them, Bishop Januarius went to visit them in prison. However, during his visit, he too was arrested and imprisoned by Timothy, the Governor of Campania. Shortly afterward, the bishop’s deacon, Festus, and a lay lector named Desiderius were also arrested when they came to visit Bishop Januarius.
Now Bishop Januarius’ faith would be tested by various tortures. It is said that he was cast into a burning furnace, but escaped unhurt. Next, he was stretched to such an extent that all of his joints and nerves were displaced. Then, he and his companions were sentenced to be thrown to wild bears at the Flavian Amphitheater, but the animals wouldn't touch him. Both befuddled and angry, the governor Timothy condemned Januarius and his companions to death by beheading. As the governor was pronouncing the sentence, he was suddenly struck blind. However, at the prayer of Januarius, he soon recovered his sight. This miracle led to about five thousand men choosing to embrace the faith. Enraged by so many conversions, and fearing Diocletian’s edicts, Timothy stubbornly ordered his previous command to be carried out. Thus it was that Januarius and his Companions were martyred at Pozzuoli in A.D. 305. Eventually in the 5th century, Saint Januarius’ body was brought to Naples for burial.
If not already an inspiring story, here is where it turns even more interesting. It is said that at his beheading, a pious local woman by the name of Eusebia collected some blood from the Saint’s corpse, depositing it in two ampoules which she carried with her everywhere she went. When the Bishop Severus transported Januarius’ relics to the Neapolitan catacombs some decades later, he happened to encounter Eusebia on his way. There, in the presence of the Saint’s decapitated head, the by-now long dried blood in the ampoules spontaneously liquefied.
The importance of this “blood miracle” to Catholics has grown ever since, especially considering that Saint Januarius’ blood continues to liquify to this day. Throughout the year, the blood appears as an opaque, dark, and solid mass when viewed in the light. When turned to the side, it does not move. But then, three times per year, a liquification of the clotted blood often occurs. Now when turned to the side, the liquid moves where gravity pulls it. In addition to today, the blood liquification takes place on the first Saturday of May (recalling when the Saint’s relics were brought to Naples) and the 16th of December (commemorating an event in 1631 when Mount Vesuvius erupted and the bust of Saint Januarius and a vial of his blood were brought out for a procession…when the solidified blood liquified as it faced the magma, the magma miraculously stopped moving and Saint Januarius was credited with saving the city).
On today’s great feast which commemorates the heavenly birthday of St. Januarius and Companions, here is what can be expected. First, after a solemn procession of the bust of Saint Januarius throughout the streets of Naples led by both religious and civic leaders, the crowds will return to the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary to pray. Between 9am and 10am, a Catholic prelate will go to collect the ampoule of blood and bring it up to the high altar that holds the Saint's head. The people, who gather by the thousands, pray that the blood becomes liquid once again. If the miracle takes place, the officiant proclaims, "Il miracolo é fatto!" and a man waves a white handkerchief to visually signal to the crowds. Then the people will approach the priest holding the reliquary to kiss the relic and sing the “Te Deum” in thanksgiving. Last, a twenty-one cannon salute is normally fired from the Casatel dell’Ovo on the shorelines of downtown Naples. Typically, once this occurs, the ampoule remains on display for the next eight days.
To look up this miracle is to be met with skeptics and scientists trying to explain away anything miraculous. While the Catholic Church does not take an official stance of the verity of the miracle, the “blood miracle” has been recorded since the late 1300’s, when the devotion to Saint Januarius began to take hold. Considering the multitudes of other miracles that have taken place throughout Church history, it really is not so outside the realm of possibility that God can go around His own laws of nature to make this happen. In our faithless world as it is today, the devotion with which Neapolitans regard Saint Januarius is in and of itself moving and profound. If any part of today’s feast-the story of Saint Januarius, the devotion and festivities taking place on the other side of the world, or the blood miracle should it occur, can deepen our own faith, all the better!
If you can’t get to Naples today, or even to Little Italy in New York (who has had an annual San Gennaro festival thanks to Italian immigrants who began it in 1926), perhaps you can sip on an espresso or glass of Lacryma Christi wine, and ask Saint Januarius to pray that our faith can be increased so that we too can be counted as one of his companions.
Prayer for St. Januarius & Companions Feast
by Ven. Abbot Dom Gueranger, O.S.B
O holy martyrs, and thou especially, O Januarius, the leader no less by thy courage than by thy pontifical dignity, your present glory increases our longing for heaven; your past combats animate us to fight the good fight; your continual miracles confirm us in the faith. Praise and gratitude are therefore due to you on this day of your triumph; and, we pay this our debt in the joy of our hearts. In return, extend to us the protection, of which the fortunate cities placed under your powerful patronage are so justly proud. Defend those faithful towns against the assaults of the evil one. In compensation for the falling away of society at large, offer to Christ our King the growing faith of all who pay you honor.
Comments