ST. JANUARIUS
Bishop and Martyr
(† 305)
St. Januarius was martyred during the persecution of Diocletian. To this day, God confirms through St. Januarius a perpetual, unceasing miracle.
St. Januarius was Bishop of Beneventum and travelled to Misenum to visit a deacon named Sosius. During the visit, Januarius saw the head of Sosius girt with flames. He took it as a sign that ere long Sosius would receive the martyr's crown
Shortly after St. Januarius' visit, Sosius was arrested and cast into prison. There, St. Januarius visited and encouraged him. At long last, the Bishop was also apprehended. Many other Christians, too were apprehended and cast in irons. Soon they were exposed to wild beasts in the amphitheatre. The beasts, however, did them no harm. Frustrated, the Governor of Campania ordered the Saints to be beheaded.
Little did the governor think that he was the instrument of ushering in the long succession of miracles which attest the faith of Januarius.
The relics of St. Januarius rest in the cathedral of Naples, and the constant liquefaction of his blood is an ongoing miracle. His congealed blood is kept in two glass vials, but it flows and becomes living blood whenever brought near the Saint's head.