From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   September 19th - St. Januarius, Bishop   
      
   Saint Januarius, (in Italian, San Gennaro), bishop of Naples, is a saint and   
   martyr for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.   
   According to legendary sources, he died in 305 during the Diocletian   
   persecution of Christians. He was imprisoned while visiting incarcerated   
   deacons at the sulphur mines of Puteoli, the modern Pozzuoli. After many   
   tortures, including being thrown to lions in Pozzuoli's Flavian   
   Amphitheater, he was beheaded at Solfatara, along with his companions, who   
   included Festus (a deacon) Desiderius (a lector) Sossus (Sossius) (friend)   
   Proculus (friend) Acutius (friend) and Euticius (friend) (see Proculus of   
   Pozzuoli).   
      
   Relocations of body and head   
      
   According to an early hagiography,[2] his relics were transferred by order   
   of Saint Severus, bishop of Naples, to the Neapolitan catacombs extra   
   moenia, "outside the walls".[3] 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.[4]   
      
   Life Story, blood miracle and veneration   
      
   His feast day is celebrated on 19 September,[5] in the calendar of the   
   Catholic Church. In the Eastern Church it is celebrated on 21 April.[6] The   
   city of Naples has more than 50 official patron saints, although its   
   principal patron is Saint Januarius.[7].   
      
   There is little known of the life of Januarius but local Neapolitan   
   tradition says he was 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 St.Sossius whom he met during his   
   priestly studies as young boys. As Bishop of Naples, he performed many   
   miracles. During the 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 was placed in a   
   furnace to be cooked alive, he came out unscathed. He was pushed into the   
   Flavian Amphitheater at Pozzuoli to be eaten by wild bears, who had not   
   eaten in days. Yet the animals refused to eat them, instead licking their   
   toes. Januarius was beheaded along with Sossius and his companions at   
   Solfatara.   
      
   Despite very limited information about his life and works, he is famous for   
   the reputed miracle of the annual liquefaction of his blood, first reported   
   in 1389.[8] The dried blood is safely stored in small capsules in a   
   reliquary. When these capsules are brought into the vicinity of his body on   
   three occasions in the year, the dried blood supposedly liquefies.   
      
   Thousands of people assemble to witness this event in the cathedral of   
   Naples. The archbishop, at the high altar amid prayers and invocations,   
   holds up a glass phial that is said to contain the dried blood of the city's   
   patron saint. When the liquefaction has taken place, the archbishop holds up   
   the phial again and demonstrates that liquefaction has taken place. The   
   announcement of the liquefaction is greeted with a 21-gun salute at the   
   13th-century Castel Nuovo.   
      
   The ceremony takes place three times a year. The most famous is on the feast   
   day on 19 September, which commemorates the saint's martyrdom. On 16   
   December, it celebrates his patronage of both Naples and of the archdiocese.   
   The celebration on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May is for the   
   commemoration of the reunification of his relics.[9] The first recorded   
   reference to the 'miracle of the blood' was in 1389. The liquefaction   
   sometimes takes place almost immediately, but can take hours or even days.   
      
   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.   
      
   Defending the veracity of the miracle   
      
   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 on one can deny the effect to be   
   miraculous, unless he be prepared to question the evidence of his   
   senses.[10]   
      
   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."[11]   
      
   Scientific scrutiny   
      
   A secular explanation suggests that the liquefaction miracle involves not   
   blood but rather a thixotropic gel, such as hydrated iron oxide,   
   FeO(OH).[12] In such a substance viscosity increases if left unstirred and   
   decreases if stirred or moved. The liquefaction has been replicated in the   
   laboratory.[13][14]   
      
   See notes at:   
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Januarius   
      
   Longer Version found at:   
   http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08295a.htm   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The Christian life is a continuation and completion of the life of Christ in   
   us. We should be so many Christs here on earth, continuing His life and His   
   works, laboring and suffering in a holy and divine manner in the spirit of   
   Jesus.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)