Januarius is the name of the month in the ancient
Roman calendar, called January in
English.Januarius is the name of one of the sons of
Saint Felicitas of Rome.Saint Januarius, or San Gennaro,
bishop of
Benevento, is a
saint and
martyr in both the
Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox traditions. According to legendary sources, he died in 305 during the persecution of
Diocletian near
Puteoli at the
sulphur mines near the
Solfatara, where he was visiting imprisoned
deacons. After many tortures he was
beheaded along with many other companions (see
Saint Proculus of Pozzuoli). According to an early
hagiography, his relics were first translated to the catacombs, called from his presence there of San Gennaro extra moenium by Saint Severus, bishop of Naples. Later the body was removed to
Beneventum by Sico, duke of Benevento, then, in the turmoil at the time of Frederick Barbarossa, to the abbey of Montevergine, where the relics were rediscovered in 1480. At the instigation of
Oliviero Cardinal Carafa, his body was translated in 1497 to
Naples, of which he is now the chief
patron saint. Carafa commissioned the richly decorated Succorpo in the crypt of the cathedral to properly house the reunited relics, for the saint's head had remained in Naples; it was finished in 1506 and is a prominent monument of the
High Renaissance in the city
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