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The saints

St. Januarius

The bishop of Naples whose blood, kept in a vial, still turns liquid on his feast.

Feast: 19 September · died about 305 · The early Church · Benevento and Naples, Italy

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Painting of St. Januarius as a bishop in a white miter, holding a crosier.

Louis Finson, 1610. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Januarius

The cathedral of Naples

Januarius was bishop of Benevento and was beheaded around 305, in the persecution of Diocletian.1

A vial said to hold his dried blood is kept in the cathedral of Naples.1

Several times a year, including his feast, the dried blood is seen to liquefy.

Patron of Naples1; blood donors1

01St. Januarius

The miracle of Naples

It has been recorded since the 1300s, and the Church allows the devotion without defining it.1

Live it this week

Give blood

Januarius is the patron of blood donors. Sign up and give blood this week, and offer it as a prayer for someone who is sick.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Januarius”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.