It's the Feast of
St. Januarius and Companions,
3rd Class, with the color of
Red. In this episode: the meditation: "Sunday Rest", today's news from the Church: "France: Will Convents Disappear?", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
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Sources Used Today:
- "Sunday Rest" — From the Assumption to Advent
- "France: Will Convents Disappear?" (FSSPX.news)
- The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
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Saint Januarius is one of those early martyrs whose death is remarkable, but what has happened to his blood afterward has made him one of the most famous saints in Italy.
Januarius, or San Gennaro as the Italians call him, was Bishop of Benevento during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian around the year 305. When several Christians were arrested near Naples, Januarius didn't keep a safe distance.
He went to visit them.
That got him arrested too.
Among those caught up in the persecution were the deacons Festus and Proculus, the lector Desiderius, and the laymen Sosius, Eutyches, and Acutius. Ancient traditions vary on some details, but all seven came to be remembered together as companions in martyrdom.
According to one popular account, they were thrown before wild beasts.
The animals refused to attack.
So the authorities settled on something considerably more reliable.
They beheaded them.
Januarius's body was eventually brought to Naples, where he became the city's great patron. But sometime afterward, another tradition appeared. A Christian woman named Eusebia was said to have collected some of Januarius's blood after his execution and preserved it in small glass ampoules.
Those ampoules still exist.
And this is where the story gets fascinating.
Several times each year, the dried substance inside is publicly displayed in the Naples Cathedral. During the ceremony, what normally appears as a dark solid mass frequently becomes liquid.
Neapolitans have been watching this happen for centuries.
The best-known ceremony takes place around September 19. The cathedral fills with people, including a traditional group of local women known affectionately as the "aunts of Saint Januarius," who pray, call out to the saint, and sometimes become increasingly impatient if the liquefaction takes too long.
It's one of those wonderfully human Catholic traditions.
When the blood liquefies, bells ring and word quickly spreads through Naples.
The Church permits devotion to the phenomenon but has not defined the liquefaction itself as a supernatural miracle. Scientists have proposed various explanations, but because the sealed relic cannot simply be opened for unrestricted testing, the phenomenon remains a fascinating subject of debate.
For Neapolitans, however, San Gennaro is much more than a scientific curiosity.
His image appears throughout the city. His feast fills the streets. His treasure includes centuries of gifts from kings, queens, popes, and ordinary people. Even Neapolitans who rarely enter a church often speak of him almost like a member of the family.
Seventeen centuries after Januarius and his companions were executed, Naples still waits every September to see the blood of its bishop.
That's a remarkable afterlife for a martyr Rome intended everyone to forget.
Saint Januarius and Companions, martyrs of Campania and courageous witnesses to Christ, pray for us
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