Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/September 19

Januarius (/ˌdʒæn.juˈɛəriəs/ JAN-yoo-AIR-ee-əs; Latin: Ianuarius; Neapolitan and Italian: Gennaro), also known as Januarius I of Benevento, was Bishop of Benevento and is a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later sources and legends claim that he died during the Great Persecution, which ended with Diocletian's retirement in 305.

Januarius is the patron saint of Naples, where the faithful gather three times a year in Naples Cathedral to witness the liquefaction of what is claimed to be a sample of his blood kept in a sealed glass ampoule. (Full article...)
Attributes: cloth of a bishop, vials of blood, palms, Mt. Vesuvius
Patronage: blood banks; Naples; volcanic eruptions
See also: Alonso de Orozco Mena, Spain; Émilie de Rodat, France; Francesco Maria da Camporosso