St. Januarius, the Miracle Saint
St. Januarius is said to have been born in Naples and to have been bishop of Beneventum (just east of Naples), who, with his companions, suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian at Naples in 303. They were first thrown to the lions in the arena, but none of the beasts would attack them, so they were beheaded. The Christian women collected the blood of St. Januarius in a glass vial and placed it in his tomb. St. Januarius has been invoked against volcanic blasts since 1631, when a violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius threatened Naples. The people of the city prayed to him to help them, and the flow of lava stopped. But the enduring fervor for this saint of the volcanoes is rooted in an inexplicable event known as “the miracle of the liquefaction.” St. Januarius is the main patron saint of Naples and is celebrated there on three feast days each year. The blood is made to "work" six times on each of these three days. It consists of a dark solid mass and is held in a gl...