September XIX

St. Januarius, Bishop of Benevento

and his companions, martyrs

From Bede and other Martyrologists. The modern acts of St. Januarius were compiled by John, a deacon belonging to the church of Naples, about the year 920, who complains that the memoirs he made use of had been adulterated by certain superfluous circumstances foisted into them. See Tillemont, t. 5, and F. Putignano Soc. J. de Redivivo, Sanguine D. Januaril, Neapoii, 1723, in three volumes quarto. Stilting, t. 6, Sept. p. 762. et seq.

a. d. 305.

St. Januarius, a native some say of Naples, others of Benevento, was bishop of this latter city, when the persecution of Dioclesian broke out. Sosius, deacon of Miseno,* Proculus, deacon of Puzzuoli, and Eutyches, or Eutychetes, and Acutius, eminent laymen, were imprisoned at Puzzuoli for the faith, by an order of Dracontius, governor of Campania, before whom they had confessed their faith. Sosius, by his singular wisdom and sanctity, had been worthy of the intimate friendship of St. Januarius, who reposed in him an entire confidence, and for many years had found no more solid comfort among men than in his holy counsels and conversation. Upon the news that this great servant of God and several others were fallen into the hands of the persecutors, the good bishop determined to make them a visit, in order to comfort and encourage them, and provide them with every spiritual succor to arm them for their great conflict; in this act of charity no fear of torments or danger of his life could terrify him; and martyrdom was his recompense. He did not escape the notice of the inquisitive keepers, who gave information that an eminent person from Benevento had visited the Christian prisoners. Timothy, who had just succeeded Dracontius in the government of that district of Italy, gave orders that Januarius, whom he found to be the person, should be apprehended, and brought before him at Nola, the usual place of his residence; which was done accordingly. Festus, the bishop’s deacon, and Desiderius, a lector of his church, were taken up as they were making him a visit. They had a share in the interrogatories and torments which the good bishop underwent at Nola. Some time after the governor went to Puzzuoli, and these three confessors, loaded with heavy irons, were made to walk before his chariot to that town, where they were thrown into the same prison where the four martyrs already mentioned were detained: they had been condemned, by an order from the emperor, to be torn in pieces by wild beasts, and were then lying in expectation of the execution of their sentence.^† The day after the arrival of St. Januarius and his two companions, all these champions of Christ were exposed to be devoured by the beasts in the amphitheatre; but none of the savage animals could be provoked to touch them. The people were amazed, but imputed their preservation to art-magic: and the martyrs were condemned to be beheaded. This sentence was executed near Puzzuoli, as Bede testifies, and the martyrs were decently interred near that town. Some time after the Christian faith was become triumphant, towards the year 400, their precious relics were removed. The bodies of SS. Proculus, Eutyches, and Acutius were placed in a more honorable manner at Puzzuoli: those of SS. Festus and Desiderius were translated to Benevento: that of Sosius to Miseno, where it was afterward deposited in a stately church built in his honor.

The city of Naples was so happy as to get possession of the relics of St. Januarius. During the wars of the Normans, they were removed, first to Benevento, and, some time after, to the abbey of Monte-Vergine; but, in 1497, they were brought back to Naples, which city has long honored him as principal patron. Among many miraculous deliverances which it ascribes to the intercession of this great saint none is looked upon as more remarkable than its preservation from the fiery eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, now called La Somma, which is only eight miles distant, and which has often threatened the entire destruction of this city, both by the prodigious quantities of burning sand, ashes, and stones, which it throws up on those occasions to a much greater distance than Naples; and, by a torrent of burning sulphur, nitre, calcined stones, and other materials, which, like a liquid fire, has sometimes gushed from that volcano, and, digging itself a channel (which has sometimes been two or three miles broad), rolled its flaming waves through the valley into the sea, destroying towns and villages in its way, and often passing near Naples.* Some of these eruptions, which in the fifth and seventh centuries threatened this city with destruction, by the clouds of ashes which they raised, are said to have darkened the sky as far as Constantinople, and struck terror into the inhabitants of that capital.¹ The intercession of St. Januarius was implored at Naples on those occasions, and the divine mercy so wonderfully interposed in causing these dreadful evils suddenly to cease thereupon, especially in 1685, Bennet II. being pope, and Justinian the younger emperor, that the Greeks instituted a feast in honor of St. Januarius, with two yearly solemn processions to return thanks to God. The protection of the city of Naples from this dreadful volcano by the same means was most remarkable in the years 1631 and 1707. In this last, whilst cardinal Francis Pignatelli, with the clergy and people, devoutly followed the shrine of St. Januarius in procession to a chapel at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, the fiery eruption ceased, the mist, which before was so thick that no one could see another at the distance of three yards, was scattered, and at night the stars appeared in the sky.²

The standing miracle, as it is called by Baronius, of the blood of St. Januarius liquefying and boiling up at the approach of the martyr’s head, is likewise very famous. In a rich chapel, called the Treasury, in the great church at Naples, are preserved the blood, in two very old glass vials, and the head of St. Januarius. The blood is congealed, and of a dark color; but, when brought in sight of the head, though at a considerable distance, it melts, bubbles up, and, upon the least motion, flows on any side. The fact is attested by Baronius, Ribadeneira and innumerable other eye-witnesses of all nations and religions, many of whom most attentively examined all the circumstances. Certain Jesuits, sent by F. Bollandus to Naples, were allowed by the archbishop, cardinal Philamurini, to see this prodigy; the minute description of the manner in which it is performed is related by them in the life of F. Bollandus.³ It happens equally in all seasons of the year, and in variety of circumstances. The usual times when it is performed are the feast of St. Januarius, the 19th of September; that of the translation of his relics (when they were brought from Puzzuoll to Naples), the Sunday which falls next to the calends of May; and the 20th day of December, on which, in 1631, a terrible eruption of Mount Vesuvius was extinguished, upon invoking the patronage of this martyr. The same is done on extraordinary occasions at the discretion of the archbishop.* This miraculous solution and ebullition of the blood of St. Januarius is mentioned by pope Pius II. when he speaks of the reign of Alphonsus I. of Arragon, king of Naples, in 1450; Angelus Cato, an eminent physician of Salerno, and others, mention it in the same century. Almost two hundred years before that epoch, historians take notice that king Charles I. of Anjou, coming to Naples, the archbishop brought out the head and blood of this martyr. The continuator of the chronicle of Maraldus says the same was done upon the arrival of king Roger, who venerated these relics, in 1140. Falco of Benevento relates the same thing. From several circumstances this miracle is traced much higher, and it is said to have regularly happened on the annual feast of St. Januarius, and on that of the translation of his relics, from the time of that translation, about the year 400.⁴

Miracles recorded in holy scripture are revealed facts, and an object of faith. Other miracles are not considered in the same light; neither does our faith rest upon them as upon the former, though they illustrate and confirm it; nor do they demand or admit any higher assent than that which prudence requires, and that which is due to the evidence or human authority upon which they depend. When such miracles are propounded, they are not to be rashly admitted: the evidence of the fact and circumstances ought to be examined to the bottom, and duly weighed; where that fails it is the part of prudence to suspend or refuse our assent. Also if it appears doubtful whether an effect be natural or proceed from a supernatural interposition, our assent ought to lean according to the greater weight of probability, and God, who is author of all events, natural and supernatural, is always to be glorified. If human evidence set the certainty of a miracle above the reach of any doubt, it must more powerfully excite us to raise our minds to God in sentiments of humble adoration, love, and praise; and to honor him in his saints, when, by such wonderful means, he gives us sensible proofs of the glory and favor to which he exalts them, and of the tenderness with which he watches over their mortal remains to raise them one day in a state of glorious immortality.

St. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, C.

After the death of St. Deusdedit, archbishop of Canterbury, Oswi, king of Northumberland, and Egbert, king of Kent, sent a virtuous and learned priest, named Wighard, to Rome, that he might be consecrated bishop, and duly confirmed to that important see by the pope himself. Wighard and most of those that attended him died in Italy of the plague; and Vitalian, who then sat in St. Peter’s chair, pitched upon Adrian, abbot of Niridian, near Naples, to be raised to that dignity. This abbot was by birth an African, understood Greek and Latin perfectly well, and was thoroughly versed in theology, and in the monastic and ecclesiastical discipline. But so great were his fears of the dignity to which he was called, that the pope was compelled by his entreaties and tears to yield to his excuses. He insisted, however, that Adrian should find a person equal to that charge, and should himself attend upon and assist him in instructing the inhabitants of this remote island in the perfect discipline of the Church. How edifying and happy was this contention—not to obtain—but to shun such a dignity! Adrian first named to the pope a monk called Andrew; but he was judged incapable of the necessary fatigues on account of his bodily infirmities, though otherwise a person extremely well qualified. There was then at Rome a Grecian monk, named Theodore, a native of Tarsus, in Cilicia, a man of exemplary life, and well skilled in divine and human learning, and in the Greek and Latin languages, who was sixty-six years old. Him Adrian presented to the pope, and procured him to be ordained bishop, promising to bear him company into England.

Theodore, being ordained sub-deacon, waited four months that his hair might grow, that it might be shaved in the form of a crown; for the Greek monks shaved their heads all over. At length pope Vitalian consecrated him bishop, on Sunday the 26th day of March, in 668, and recommended him to St. Bennet Biscop, who was then come a third time to Rome, but whom the pope obliged to return to England with St. Theodore and Adrian, in order to be their guide and interpreter. They set out on the 27th of May; went by sea to Marseilles; and from thence by land to Arles, where they were entertained by the archbishop John, till Ebroin, mayor of the palace, had sent them permission to continue their journey. Saint Theodore passed the winter at Paris with the bishop Agilbert, who had formerly been bishop of Winchester, in England. By his conversation, the new archbishop informed himself of the circumstances and necessities of the Church of which he was going to take upon him the charge: he also learned the English language. Egbert, king of Kent, hearing his new archbishop was arrived at Paris, sent one of the lords of his court to meet him, who having obtained leave of Ebroin, waited on him to the port of Quentavic, in Ponthieu, now called St Iosse-sur-Mer. Theodore falling sick, was obliged to stay there some time. As soon as he was able to travel, he proceeded on his voyage, with St. Bennet Biscop, and took possession of his see of Canterbury on Sunday the 27th of May, 669. Adrian was detained in France some time by Ebroin, who suspected that he was sent by the emperor to the kings of England on some designs against the French. He stayed a considerable time, first with Emmo, archbishop of Sens, and afterward with St. Faro, bishop of Meaux. Ebroin being at last satisfied, he was permitted to follow St. Theodore, by whom he was made abbot of St. Peter’s, at Canterbury.

St. Theodore made a general visitation of all the churches of the English nation, taking with him the abbot Adrian. He was everywhere well received, and heard with attention; and, wherever he came, he established sound morality, confirmed the discipline of the Catholic Church in the celebration of Easter, and introduced everywhere the Gregorian or Roman chanting in the divine office, till then known in few of the English churches, except those of Kent. He regulated all other things belonging to the divine service, reformed abuses, and ordained bishops in all places where he thought they were wanting. He confirmed St. Wilfrid in the see of York,¹ declaring the ordination of Ceadda irregular in two respects,—because he was intruded to the prejudice of St. Wilfrid, and because he had not received his consecration by lawful authority. Ceadda replied that he had been ordained against his inclinations, confessed himself unworthy of that dignity, and retired with joy to his monastery of Lestinguen. But St. Theodore made him bishop of the Mercians, or of Litchfield, which see was vacant by the death of Jaruman.

St. Theodore was the first archbishop of Canterbury, after St. Austin, who presided over the whole Church of England. He was founder of a most famous school at Canterbury, which produced many great men. For Theodore and Adrian themselves expounded the scriptures, and taught all the sciences, particularly astronomy and ecclesiastical arithmetic for calculating Easter; also how to compose Latin verses. Many under them became as perfect in the Latin and Greek languages as they were in their own tongue. Britain had never been in so flourishing a condition as at this time since the English first set foot in the island. The kings were so brave, says Bede, that all the barbarous nations dreaded their power; but withal such good Christians, that they aspired only after the joys of the kingdom of heaven, which had been but lately preached to them. All men’s minds seemed only bent on the goods of the life to come, to use the words of our venerable historian. St. Theodore established schools in most parts of England, and it is hard to say whether we ought most to admire the zeal and unwearied labors of the pastors, or the docility, humility, and insatiable ardor of the people, with whom to hear, to learn, and to practise seemed one and the same thing.

In 670, St. Theodore held a national council at Heorutford, which Cave, Mabillon, and many others, take to be Hertford; though it seems more probably to have been Thetford, as Ralph Hidgen² and Trevisa³ positively affirm. And in this council Bisi, bishop of the East-Angles, sat next to the archbishop. It is ordained in one of the canons, that no man leave his wife, unless in the case of adultery; and that even in this case a true Christian ought not to marry another. This synod enacted, that a council should be assembled annually on the 1st of August at Cloveshoe, which Mr. Somner proves to be Abingdon, in Berkshire, which was on the borders of the Mercian kingdom, and was anciently called Shovesham, and originally Clovesham. The archbishop quotes, in this synod, for the regulation of Easter, and other points, a book of canons; by which Dr. Smith understands the council of Chalcedon, some others St. Theodore’s Penitential: but no such decisions are found in either; and it was probably a code of canons of the Roman Church which was here appealed to. The Eutychian and Monothelite heresies having made great havoc in the East, St. Theodore held another synod, in 680, at Hetfield, now called Bishop’s Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, in which the mystery of the Incarnation was expounded, the five first general councils were received, and the abovesaid heresies condemned.

In 678, at the request of king Egfrid, St. Theodore divided the see of York into three bishoprics, and constituted so many new bishops in the room of St. Wilfrid, who refused to come into that project. In the following year, St. Theodore ordained St. Erconwald bishop of London. War breaking out between Egfrid, king of the Northumbers, and Ethelred, king of the Mercians, a great battle was fought near the Trent, in which Elfwin, the amiable young brother of Egfrid, was slain. Upon this news, St. Theodore, relying upon the divine assistance, immediately set out, to extinguish the flame of war which both kings were bent on carrying on with greater fury than before the engagement: but the authority of the good bishop, and the religious motives which he made use of, disarmed them at once, and our saint was so happy as to cement a firm and cordial peace between the two nations, upon no other condition than that of paying the usual mulct to king Egfrid for the loss of his brother. Few things have rendered the name of St. Theodore more famous than his Penitential or Code of Canons, prescribing the term of public penance for penitents, according to the quality and enormity of their sins.* By this Penitential, it appears,⁴ that when a monk died, mass was said for him on the day of his burial, on the third day after, and as often again as the abbot thought proper: also that the holy sacrifice was offered for the laity, and accompanied with fasting.⁵

St. Theodore being above fourscore years of age, and seized with frequent fits of sickness, was desirous to be reconciled to St. Wilfrid. He therefore requested the exiled holy prelate to come to him at London, begged his pardon for having consented with the kings to his deprivation, without any fault on his side, did all he could to make him amends, and restored him to his entire see of York; for which purpose he wrote strong letters to Alfrid, king of Northumberland, who had succeeded his brother Egfrid; to Ethelred, king of the Mercians; to Elfleda, abbess of Streneshal, and others who opposed St. Wilfrid, or were interested in this affair; and he had the comfort to see his endeavors everywhere successful St. Theodore was twenty-two years archbishop, and died in 690, aged fourscore and eight years; his memory is honored on the 19th day of September, which was that of his death. He was buried in the monastery of St. Peter, which afterward took the name of St. Austin. See Bede, l. 4, c. 1, 2, 21, l. 5, c. 8, and the lives of St. Wilfrid, and of St. Bennet Biscop. Ceillier, t. 17, p. 740. Wilkins, Concil. Magnæ Britan. t. 1, p. 42, and the learned Mr. Johnson’s Collection of Canons of the Church of England, vol. 1, ad an. 673.

SS. Peleus, Pa-Termuthes, and Companions, Martyrs

The holy confessors who were condemned to the mines in Palestine, during the course of the last general persecution, built little oratories, where they met to the divine service, which under their sufferings was their solid comfort. Firmilian, governor of Palestine, informed the emperor Galerius of the liberty they had taken, and the tyrant sent an order that they should be sent, some to the mines in Cyprus, others to those on mount Libanus, and others to other places. Firmilian being in the mean time beheaded himself for his crimes, the officer upon whom the command was devolved after his disgrace, removed the servants of God to the new places of their banishment, according to the tenor of the imperial rescript; but first caused four of their number to be burnt alive. These were Peleus and Nilus, two Egyptian priests, Elias, also a priest, and Pa-Termuthes, an Egyptian of singular learning and reputation. This last was the person to whom Eusebius and St. Pamphilus addressed their apology for Origen. See Eus. Hist. de Martyr. Palestinæ, c. 13.

St. Lucy, Virgin

She was daughter to a king of the Scots, and retired into France to serve God in obscurity. She chose for herself a solitary place on the north side of the river Meuse in the diocess of Verdun, where she lived in the practice of the most sublime virtues, till God called her to a happy immortality in the year 1090. She was buried in a church built by herself on the summit of a mountain near her own cell; and was enrolled in the number of the saints by Henry bishop of Verdun.* Her relics are kept during the summer season in the church of Mount St. Lucy, but in winter in the parish church of Sampigny; of both which churches she is the titular patroness. The former belonging to the Minims was erected under her invocation, in 1625, by the prince of Phalneburg, of the house of Guise, and by his wife, who was sister to Charles IV. duke of Lorraine. The shrine of Saint Lucy is much resorted to by pilgrims; it was visited in 1609 by the duchess of Lorraine of the house of Mantua, and in 1632 by Louis XIII., king of France, who was then at the siege of St. Myhel in Lorraine. See the Hist. of Lorraine, t. 3, p. 218; Cle. Act. SS. t. 6, Sept. p. 101. Dempster, Camerarius, Lahier, and her MS. life, written in 1747.

St. Eustochius, Bishop of Tours

Was descended from an illustrious family of Auvergne, and, according to Gregory of Tours, was a man of eminent virtue. Being raised to the see of Tours after the death of St. Brice in 444, he strenuously defended, in the council of Angers, the privileges of the Church, which were invaded by a law of Valentinian III., and had a principal share in drawing up the regulations made in that council concerning discipline. He increased the number of parishes in his diocess, and built in the city of Tours a church, wherein he deposited the relics of SS. Gervasius and Protasius, which St. Martin had received from Italy. He died in 461, and was buried in the church built by St. Brice over the tomb of St. Martin; his name occurs this day in the Roman Martyrology. See St. Gregory of Tours, Hist. l. 2, c. 1 et 14, l. 10, c. 31. Baillet, on the 19th Sept. F. Longueval, Hist. de l’Egl. Gall. t. 2, p. 77, et 114.

St Sequanus, in French Seine, Abbot

He was born in the little town of Maymont in the extremity of Burgundy. His parents gave him an excellent education, and permitted him to embrace an ecclesiastical state, to which he was inclined from his infancy. Having received the clerical tonsure from the hands of his pastor, the sanctity of his life soon recommended him to the bishop of Langres, who promoted him to the priesthood. The saint having suffered some persecution from persons who had envied his merit, he took occasion from thence to execute a resolution he had long before formed, of quitting the commerce of the world; and put himself under the direction of abbot John, who governed the monastery of Reome, in Auxois, since called Moutier St. Jean. Here he perfected himself in the study of the holy scriptures, and in the practice of all religious virtues. After some time he built a monastery in the forest of Segestre, near the source of the river Seine, which still bears his name. The regular discipline which he established there, rendered it famous, and drew to it a number of disciples. God was pleased to honor him with the gift of miracles, which added new lustre to his sanctity. He died, according to the most probable opinion, on the 19th of September, about the year 580; and his relics are kept in his monastery. He is mentioned in the Martyrologies of Ado and Usuard under the name of St. Sigon. See his life, by one of his disciples, in Mabil. sec. 1, Ben. St. Gregory of Tours, c. 88, de Glor. Confes. Hist. du Monast. de Reomé, ou Moutier St. Jean; Baillet, &c.

* Formerly an episcopal city on a promontory, two miles from Baiæ, three from Puzzuoli, now in ruins.

^† The ruins of the amphitheatre at Puzzuoli show how magnificent and famous a place this was for such barbarous diversion. The situation of Puzzuoli was so delightful that Cicero, Hortensius, Piso, Marius. Cæsar. Pompey, Nero, &c., had country-houses there. St. Proculus’s church at Puzzuoli was originally a temple built by Calphurnius in honor of Augustus.

* See the description of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 1707, in the Philosophical Transactions, No. 354, that of Mount Ætna, in 1669, given by Borelli in a particular history thereof, with a philosophical account of volcanoes, &c.

¹ See Marcellin. in Chron. ad ann. 471. An ancient homily quoted by Baronius, Baillet, and Putignano.

² See F. Putignano, t. 3, p. 153, and t. 2, p. 61.

³ Vita Patris Bollandi, t. 1, Martii.

* See this miracle defended by cardinal Lambertini, afterward pope Benedict XIV. De Canoniz. l. 4, par. l. c. 31, by Melchior Corneus, in Defens. Mir. adversus Danhawerum, p. 37, and in the notes in Musantii Chron. p. 193. Mr. Addison, Dr. Middleton, and several German Protestants, have tried their skill in forming objections to this miracle, which some of them would fain ascribe to the heat of the priest’s hands, others to the steams of the church or lamps, others think it may be some chymical composition of a soluble nature. See Danhawerus, and Bibliothec. German. t. 29, ann. 1734. All these surmises suppose a fraud or juggle in the priests; but how will these authors persuade us that so many most holy, venerable, and learned persons have been and are hypocrites, impostors, and jugglers? The chymical secret would be not only a notorious fraud but also a wonderful discovery. The variation of the circumstances in which this miracle happens, removes the suspicion of this or such causes as the heat of hands, and the steams of the place. Nor can these be altered by the head being present, &c. That the ancient Christians often respectfully preserved the blood of martyrs in vials, is demonstrable from all authors who have written on the ancient cemeteries.

⁴ See Julius Cæsar Capacius, in his Neapolitan History, l. 2. Summontius, In his History of Naples, phioccarelli, l. De Neapolitanis Episcopis.

¹ Eddi in Vitâ S. Wilfr. n. 15.

² Polychron l. 5, p. 239.

³ Ib. p. 310.

* Speiman thought this Penitential too long to be inserted in his edition of the English councils (t. 1, p. 154): and was imitated by Wilkins. (Conc. Britan. tom. 1.) Luke D’Achery pubilshed one hundred and twenty articles of this work (Spicilegii, t. 9), which Labbe reprinted. (Conc. t. 6, p. 537.) James Petit published a part of this Penitential, in two volumes quarto, with several dissertations and foreign pieces; but this edition is less accurate than the former, and many canons are added from other later Western penitentials, in some of which Theodore is himself quoted, and some decisions occur which stand in need of amendment. The six-score articles which contain a summary account of the discipline of the Latin and Greek Churches, are the chief part of what can be depended upon to be the genuine work of Saint Theodore. In these it is remarkable, that the apostolical temporary precept of the council at Jerusalem, of abstaining from things strangled, and from blood, was still observed in some Churches. That among the Greeks in the seventh century, even the laity received the communion every Sunday, and they who failed three times together were excommunicated. That children brought up in monasteries were permitted to eat flesh till fourteen years of age; the boys might be professed at fifteen, and girls at sixteen. Lastly, that the penitential canons then began to be mitigated, by shortening the term of penances. St. Theodore prescribed but one year for fornication, three for adultery, and seven for murder. This relaxation gradually crept into the Oriental Church, after Nectarius had abolished the office of penitentiary or public censor. In condescension to the weakness of many penitents, St. Theodore introduced the modern penitential canons of the Greeks into those churches, whose discipline he regulated, and was, in process of time, followed by many others in the West; as appears from several penitential; made in imitation of his, the authority of which is not to be compared to that of the ancient penitential canons in their decisions The Penitentiary of Ecbright archbishop of York, in 740, was compiled upon this model.

⁴ Cap. 16.

⁵ Cap. 19, 77.

* This Henry, called Blois or Winchester, was brother to Stephen king of England, and nephew to the impress Matilda; he was obliged to quit the see of Verdun in 1129, but afterward became bishop of Winchester and cardinal.

 Butler, A., The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints (New York 1903) III, 717-724.