Saint Januarius, Bishop, and His Companions, Martyrs
S. Ianuarii Episcopi et Sociorum Martyrum
Saint Januarius, Bishop of Benevento, and his companions gave their lives for Christ in the age of persecution, and are honoured especially at Naples, where the Saint is venerated as the patron of the city.
On the nineteenth of September the Church honours Saint Januarius, Bishop of Benevento, in Italy, together with the companions who suffered martyrdom with him for the faith of Christ. Their death is placed by tradition in the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, at the opening of the fourth century, when many in those regions sealed their confession of Christ with their blood.
The bishop and his companions
The ancient accounts relate that Saint Januarius, the bishop, was seized for the faith in a time of persecution, and that with him suffered a number of companions — among them deacons and other Christians named in the tradition — who would not deny their Lord. After imprisonment and torments they were put to death, and so passed to their reward. Of the particulars of their lives little can now be told with certainty; what the Church holds fast is that they were faithful witnesses who counted the friendship of Christ dearer than life, and who are numbered among the martyrs of the early Church.
The body of Saint Januarius was in time brought to Naples, of which city he became the chief patron. There his relics are held in great honour, and there is preserved a phial reputed to contain his blood, which on his feast and certain other days is venerated by the faithful; the long-standing report of its becoming liquid has drawn the devotion of the people of Naples for many centuries. The Church proposes such things to the veneration of the faithful with reverence and with prudence, while the heart of the feast remains the witness of the martyr himself.
Their veneration
The memory of Saint Januarius and his companions has been kept in the Church from early times, and his name is held in special love at Naples and throughout southern Italy. In them the faithful honour the constancy of the martyrs and give thanks to God, who gave his servants the grace to be faithful unto death.
The collect of their feast prays that we who keep the festival of blessed Januarius and his companions may rejoice in their fellowship in glory and be helped by their intercession. Their feast is kept on the nineteenth of September.
The Collect
O God, who grantest us to venerate the memory of thy holy martyrs Januarius and his companions: grant, we beseech thee, that we may rejoice in their fellowship in eternal happiness, of whose festival we make glad solemnity.
Deus, qui nos ánnua sanctórum Mártyrum tuórum Ianuárii et Sociórum eius solemnitáte lætíficas: concéde propítius; ut, quorum gaudémus méritis, accendámur exémplis.
Patronage
Saint Januarius is venerated as the principal patron of the city of Naples and is invoked against the perils of fire and of volcanic eruption.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar his memorial is observed on the same day, 19 September, as an optional memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Januarius?
His feast is kept on 19 September in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast. The modern calendar likewise observes him on 19 September, as an optional memorial.
Who was Saint Januarius?
He was the Bishop of Benevento in Italy who, with several companions, was martyred for the faith during the persecution under Diocletian at the beginning of the fourth century. His relics were brought to Naples, of which city he is the patron. Little is known with certainty of the details of his life.
What is the ‘miracle of Saint Januarius’?
At Naples a phial reputed to contain the blood of Saint Januarius is venerated, and on his feast and certain other days it is long reported to become liquid. The Church permits this veneration with reverence and prudence; the feast itself honours the martyr’s witness to Christ.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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