Catholic Fire

The saint of the day for September 19th, is St. Januarius, bishop and martyr. He is the patron saint of Naples, where Catholics assemble three times a year in Naples Cathedral to witness the liquefaction of a small sample of his his blood which is kept in a sealed vial. St. Januarius was born in Naples and served as bishop of Beneventum (just east of Naples). He and his companions suffered martyrdom during the Diocletian persecution 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 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 ...

The saint of the day for September 19th, is St. Januarius, bishop and Martyr. 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.” The main patron saint of Naples, St. Januarius is celebrated there on three feast days each year. The blood is made to "work" six times o...

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...