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Saint Januarius, (Italian: San Gennaro), 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[2], 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.
[edit] BiographyLittle is known of the life of Januarius,[2] 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[3], 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" [4] 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". [edit] 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.[5] [edit] RelicsAccording to an early hagiography,[6] his relics were transferred by order of Saint Severus, Bishop of Naples, to the Neapolitan catacombs "extra moenia," "outside the walls".[7] 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.[8] [edit] CultSt Januarius' feast day is celebrated on September 19,[9] in the calendar of the Catholic Church. In the Eastern Church it is celebrated on April 21.[10] The city of Naples has more than fifty official patron saints, although its principal patron is Saint Januarius.[11]. 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. [edit] 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).[12] [edit] Description of the ritualThe 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.[11][13] 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.[11] 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.[13][14] The first recorded reference to the 'miracle of the blood' was in 1389.[15][16]. [edit] Catholic Church's positionWhile 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.[11][citation needed] 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:
John Henry Cardinal Newman also attested to the veracity of the miracle of liquefaction:
[edit] Scientific studies and other theoriesThe 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.[13] A willful fraud is also considered unlikely, given the long history of the phenomenon and the intense scrutiny to which is has been submitted.[13] 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[19] claimed that the spectrum was consistent with hemoglobin. Another analysis, with similar conclusions, was performed in 1989.[20] However, the reliability of those observations has been questioned.[13] While clotted blood can be liquefied by mechanical stirring, the resulting suspension cannot solidify again.[13] 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.[13] Various suggestions for the content's composition have been advanced, such as a material that is photosensitive, hygroscopic, or has a low melting point.[21] However, these explanations run into technical difficulties, such as the variability of the phenomenon and it being unrelated to ambient temperature.[13] A recent theory by Garlaschelli, Ramaccini, and Della Sala is that the vial contains a thixotropic gel.[13][22] 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.[23] The suspension can be prepared from simple chemicals that would have been easily available locally since antiquity.[24][25] [edit] See also
[edit] Notes
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