September 19--St. Januarius, Bishop and Martyr

If you like weird stories, here is a doozy! St. Januarius’s blood liquifies up to 18 times each year for the past 600 years! Keep in mind that St. Januarius has been dead since A.D. 305, when he was martyred under the Great Persecution of the emperor Diocletian, the last and worst persecution in the age of the martyrs. His blood has been kept in a reliquary and routinely liquifies on certain days, including his feast day of September 19. When Pope Francis visited Naples in 2015 the blood liquified, the first time that has happened in the presence of a pope in over 150 years. According to Neapolitans, when St. Januarius’s blood does not liquify on the usual days it is a sign of trouble to come. So why is liquification unusual? The fact of St. Januarius’s blood changing form is scientifically inexplicable, PERIOD! 

St. Januarius was a bishop and martyr, which makes him amazing enough! However, because of the constant liquification of his blood, or lack thereof, he is in the news quite a bit. We may not really know about him, except for this amazing miracle. What does this mean for us today? Perhaps it is to remind us of another miracle concerning blood.

There is a miracle that occurs every day throughout the world in every Catholic church: the transubstantiation of the bread and wine offered at the sacrifice of the Mass into the Body and Blood of Jesus. This miracle is seen and experienced by faithful. It is more amazing than the liquification of St. Januarius’s blood. We get to receive Jesus—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity—every time we receive the Eucharist. We honor St. Januarius for his witness and his miracle, but we worship our Lord, Jesus Christ for his great love and sacrifice for our salvation.