Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day

St. Januarius

Feast Day: September 19
Born: (around) 240 :: Died: 305

Januarius was born in Naples in Italy. He was the bishop of Benevento when Emperor Diocletian began to harass and trouble the Christians. The people of Naples have a special love for and devotion to Bishop Januarius. He is popularly called "San Gennaro."

One day San Gennaro was told that some Christian deacons had been put in prison for their faith. The bishop who was a gentle and compassionate man, truly cared about his people and went to the prison to visit them.

The jailer reported him to the governor who sent soldiers to find San Gennaro. The bishop was arrested along with a deacon and a lector and was put along with the other prisoners.

San Gennaro and the six other Christians were beheaded and martyred for their faith. Their deaths took place near Naples in 305 and the people of Naples consider San Gennaro as their patron saint.

The people of Naples remember San Gennaro for another special reason: his martyr's blood was preserved many hundred years ago in a vile. The blood has become dark and dry. But at certain times of the year, the blood turns to liquid. It becomes red, sometimes bright red and at times, it even bubbles.

The special case containing the vile of blood is honored publicly about 3 times a year:

on the first Saturday of May,
on September 19 (the feast of San Gennaro), within the octave (or eight days after the feast),
and at times on December 16.
The liquified blood has been seen and honored since the thirteenth century.

Day 262 - Is This the Christ?

Today’s Reading: John 7:25-31
25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27 Yet we know where this man comes from; and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord; he who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” 30 So they sought to arrest him; but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the people believed in him; they said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Today’s Commentary:
no one will know: Two traditions regarding the birth and origin of the Messiah circulated in ancient Judaism. (1) Some expected the Messiah to grow up in obscurity and be manifested to the world only as an adult. (2) Others expected the Messiah to come from Bethlehem in accordance with the prophecy of Mic 5:2.

The irony here is that both are true of Jesus: his heavenly origin in the Trinity is unknown to his audience (8:14), as is his birth in Bethlehem
(Lk 2:4-7).