JANUARIUS
295
JANUARIUS
tion of this work, the original of which had reached
its nineteenth edition in 1897, was pubHshed by
Pacaud as early as 1S28. A fifth edition of this trans-
lation, edited by Glaire and Sionnet, was published
in Paris in 1855.
ViGouRoux, Diclionnaire de la Bible, s. v.; Biographic Na- tionale, X (Brussels, lSSS-1889), p. 145.
J.\MES F. Driscoll.
Januarius, S.4.INT, Martyr, Bishop of Beneventum, is believed to have suffered in the persecution of Diocle-
in a very strange way, as though it had but freshly
been shed."
It is especially this miracle of the liquefaction which has given celebrity to the name of Januarius, and to this we turn our attention. Let it at once be .said that the supposition of any trick or deliberate imposture is out of the question, as candid opponents are now willing to admit. For more than four hundred years this liquefaction has taken place at frequent intervals. If it were a trick it would be necessary to admit that tian, c. 305. With regard to the history of his life all the archbishops of Naples, and that countless
and martyrdom, we know next to nothing. The
various collections of "Acts", though numerous (cf.
Bil)liothoca Ilagiographica Latina, n. 4115-4140), are
all oxtromely late and untrustworthy. Bede (c. 733)
in his " Martyrologium " has epitomized the so-called
".Vcta Bononiensia" (see Quentin, "Les Martyro-
loges historiques ", 76). To this source we may trace
the following entry in the present Roman Martyrology,
though the reference
to the miracle of the
liquefaction is anad-
dition iif mucli later
date. "At I'DZZuoliin
Campania [the mem-
ory] of the holy mar-
tyrs Januarius, Bish-
op of Beneventum,
Festus his deacon,
and Desiderius lec-
tor, together with
Socius deacon of the
church of Misenas,
Proculus deacon of
Pozzuoli, Eutyches
and .'Vcutius, who
after chains and im-
prisonment were be-
headed under the
Emperor Diocletian.
The body of St. Jan-
uarius was brought
to Naples, and there
honourably interred
in the church, where
his holy blood is
Cappella del Tesoro (founded 1608), Cathedral, Naples
Icre is preserved the silver reliquary believed to contain the blood
of St. Januarius
ecclesiastics eminent for their learning and often for
their great sanctity, were accomplices in the fraud,
as also a number of secular officials; for the relic is so
guarded that its exposition requires the concurrence
of both civil and ecclesiastical authority. Further,
in all these four hundred years, no one of the many
who, upon the supposition of such a trick, must
necessarily have been in the secret, has made any
revelation or dis-
closed how the ap-
parent miracle is
worked. Strong in-
direct testimony to
this truth is borne
by the fact that even
at the present time
the rationalistic op-
ponents of a super-
natural explanation
are entirely disa-
greed as to how the
phenomenon is to be
accounted for.
What actually takes place may be thus briefly de- scribed: in a silver reliquary, which in form and size some- what suggests a small carriage lamp, two phials are enclosed. The lesser of these contains only traces of blood and need
kept unto this day in a phial of glass, which being not concern us here. The larger, which is a lit-
set near his head becomes liquid and bubbles up as tie flagon-shaped flask four inches in height and
though it were fresh." about two and a quarter inches in diameter, is
In the Breviary a longer account is given. There normally rather more than half full of a dark and
weare told that "Timotheus, President of Campania," solid mass, absolutely opaque when held up to the
was the official who condemned the martyrs, that light, and showing no displacement when the reli-
Januarius was thrown into a fiery furnace, "but that quary is turned upside down. Both flasks seem to be
the flames would not touch him, and that the saint so fixed in the lantern cavity of the reliquary by
and his companions were afterwards exposed in_the means of some hard gummy substance that they are
amphitheatre to wild beasts without any effect. Tii
otheus declaring that this was due to magic, and
ordering the martyrs to be beheaded, the persecutor
was smitten with blindness, but Januarius cured him.
hermetically sealed. Moreover, owing to the fact
that the dark mass in the flask is protected by two
thicknesses of glass it is presumably but little affected
by the temperature of the surrounding air. Eighteen
and five thousand persons were converted to Christ times in each year, i. e. (1) on the Saturday before the
before the martyrs were decapitated. Then, as the first Sunday in Jlay and the eight following days, (2)
Breviary lesson continues, "the cities of these coasts on the feast of St. Januarius (19 Sept.) and during
strove to obtain their bodies for honourable burial, so
as to make sure of having them advocates with God.
By God's will, the relics of Januarius were taken to
Naples at last, after having been carried from Pozzuoli
to Beneventum and from Beneventum to Monte Ver-
gine. When they were brovight thence to Naples
they were laid in the chief church there and have been
the octave, and (3) on 16 Dec, a silver bust believed
to contain the head of St. Januarius is exposed upon
the altar, and the reliquary just described is brought
out and held by the officiant in view of the assembly.
Prayers are said by the people, begging that the
miracle may take place, while a group of poor women,
known as the "zie di San Gennaro" (aunts of St.
there famous on account of many miracles. Among Januarius), make themselves specially conspicuous
these is remarkaljle the stopping of eruptions of by the fervour, and sometimes, when the miracle is
Mount Vesuvius, whereby both that neighbourhood delayed, by the extravagance, of their supplications.
and places afar off have been like to be destroyed. It The officiant usually holds the reliquary by its
is also well known and is the plain fact, seen even unto extremities, without touching the glass, and from time
this day, that when the blood of St. Januarius, kept to time turns it upside down to note whether any
dried up in a small glass phial, is put in sight of the movement is perceptible in the dark mass enclosed in
head of the same martyr, it is wont to melt and bubble the phial. After an interval of varying duration,
