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Show Blood of St. Januarius. J On Thursday, Sept. 19. the Church celebrated the feast of St. januarius, one of the early martyrs to the faith, and a few words regarding his life and the wonderful miracle which attests his saintly character may be of interest at the present time. Many-centuries ago St. Januarius died because of the unshakable un-shakable belief in Jesus Christ aa, the Son of God and Redeemer of the world through the persecution of Diocletian. The saint was bishop of Beneventum. and - on one occasion he traveled . to Misenum in order to visit a ditac'on named Sosius. During this visit Januarius Janua-rius say in a vision the head of Sositi?. who was singing the gospel in the Church, girt with flames, and took thi3 for a sign that ere long Sosius T70Uld wear tho crown of martyrdom. So it proved. Shortly afterward Sosius was arrested and thrown into prison. There St. Januarius visited and, encouraged him. till the bis!o; aiso Tas arrested ir. turn. Soon the nuraser of the confes-sors confes-sors was swollen by some of the neighboring neigh-boring clergy. They were exposed to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre. The beasts, however, did thum no harm, and at last the governor of Campania ordered the saints to be beheaded Llt tie did the heathen governor think that he was the instrument in God's hand of ushering in the long succession of miracles mira-cles which attest the faith of Januarius. Janua-rius. The relics of St. Januarius rest in the cathedral of Naples, and it is. there that the liquefaction of his blood occurs. The blood is concealed In two glass vials, but when it is brought near the martyr's head it melts and flows like the blood of a livine man. |