medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Thank you so much for the app link. It may finally inspire me to buy a cell
phone, just so I can have it.
Erica
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Dillon
Sent: Saturday, September 19, 2015 5:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [M-R] FEAST - A Saint for the Day (Sept. 19): St. Januarius of
Naples
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today, 19. September, is the feast day of Januarius of Naples (d. 305,
supposedly; also Januarius of Benevento; in Italian, Gennaro). Neapolitan
veneration of this well known saint is at least as old as the fifth century.
A letter of ca. 432 narrating the death of St. Paulinus of Nola has two
saints appear to him on his deathbed: Martin and Januarius, the latter
described as a martyr bishop who illumines the church of Naples. Herewith
two images of him (the first is certain, the other very probable) in that
city's catacombe di San Gennaro:
1) as depicted (at center, in an apparent visual instance of the trope of
the martyr as Christ) in a fifth-century fresco:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060506104324/http://www.aissca.it/aissca/immag
ini/SanGenn1ImageMosaic2.jpg
http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/SelenaK/Neapel/DSCF5345.jpg
Detail view:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060506104333/http://www.aissca.it/aissca/immag
ini/SanGenn1particolare.jpg
2) as depicted (at left) in a probably early sixth-century fresco:
http://tinyurl.com/pdug9rh
Detail view:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060506104317/http://www.aissca.it/aissca/immag
ini/SanGenn2ImageParticolare.jpg
A Januarius not identified geographically is entered under today in the
early sixth-century Calendar of Carthage as well as in numerous liturgical
sources from the seventh century onward, including the earlier ninth-century
Marble Calendar of Naples. The (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology has an
entry under this day for a Neapolitan Januarius as follows: _et Neapoli
sanctorum Ianuari et Angi._ ("and at Naples, of saints Januarius and
Angi."). Who or what _Angi._ may have denoted is unknown.
Januarius' developed legend emerges in his _Acta Bononiensia_ (BHL 4132, now
dated to before the eighth century) in which he is identified with the
Januarius of Benevento entered under 7. September in the (ps.-)HM along with
Sts. Festus, Acutius, and Desiderius. This account presents him as a bishop
of Benevento and names the others among his several companions in martyrdom
during the Great Persecution; all are said to have been put to death near
the Solfatara in the Phlegraean Fields near Pozzuoli. By the eighth century
too a martyrial church had been erected at that reported place of execution.
An altar thought to have come from that church is preserved in its modern
successor, the chiesa di San Gennaro alla Solfatara at today's Pozzuoli (NA)
in Campania:
http://www.incampania.com/assets/img/Beni/big/santuariosangennaro.jpg
In the ninth-century historical martyrologies and, in somewhat greater
detail, in a translation account (BHL 4116) whose earliest witness is of the
ninth century, the remains of various of Januarius' companions are said to
have been removed at some unspecified time(s) to their home towns while
those of Januarius are said to have been brought to Naples by people of that
city. According to the ninth-century early portion of Naples' episcopal
chronicle, this translation was the work of Naples' bishop St. John I (d.
432), who placed the saint's body in extramural catacombs since known as
those of St. Januarius. Some views of Naples' catacombe di San Gennaro as
they are today:
http://s208.photobucket.com/user/lukebdb/media/napoli1.jpg.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10032652@N08/4464724728/
http://www.italiaunica.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/NAPOLI_29.jpg
And a brief video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYbiRT4Z-rQ
In the early ninth century a Lombard raid on Naples under prince Sico (d.
832) resulted in the translation to Benevento of the Januarian relics that
had been in the Neapolitan catacomb church now known as San Gennaro extra
moenia. Thus "repatriated" to the city of his legendary episcopacy,
Januarius spent the rest of the early Middle Ages at Benevento and most of
the later Middle Ages at the also Campanian abbey of Montevergine near
today's Mercogliano (AV), whither he is said to been translated in 1154 at
the behest of king William I. In 1480 remains identified through an
inscription on the clay vessel containing them as those of Januarius and of
his Beneventan companions Festus and Desiderius were discovered at
Montevergine under the main altar of the abbey church. Those said to be
Januarius' were translated in 1497 by cardinal Oliviero Carafa to Naples,
where they were deposited in a splendid crypt built for them in the
cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. Completed only in 1506, this crypt is now
generally known as the cappella del Succorpo. Some views (the kneeling
figure portrays cardinal Carafa at prayer):
http://www.wga.hu/art/m/malvito/carafa.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/orqfwxd
http://tinyurl.com/ogypb8k
The bones (really, bone fragments) translated from Montevergine in 1497 are
displayed in the container shown here:
http://oodegr.co/italiano/tradizione_index/vitesanti/reliquie%20s.%20gennaro
.JPG
http://tinyurl.com/nfrgypu
By then the church of Naples possessed other relics of Januarius that
supposedly had remained in the city all along: a portion of skull housed in
a silver gilt head reliquary from the early fourteenth century and two tiny
glass ampules containing a brownish-red substance that many believe to be
some of Januarius' blood preserved from the scene of his martyrdom and whose
famous liquefaction (now usually occurring today and again in early May) is
first recorded from 1389 in a chronicle entry for 17. August.
The head reliquary (the base is from 1609):
http://tinyurl.com/oq8x8bs
http://tinyurl.com/oz7kwaq
In formal attire (the collar is from 1706):
http://www.interviu.it/turismo/decumani/duomo16.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/193/485569048_3bcc3ae85a.jpg
Three views (the first two antedating the restoration of 2008) of the
processional display reliquary for the ampules (the central portion with its
bust of Januarius dates from the fourteenth century):
http://tinyurl.com/3awxls
http://tinyurl.com/27j6za
http://tinyurl.com/36e9y4p
Three views of the ampules themselves:
http://www.productionmyarts.com/blog/wp-content/reliquaire-de-san-gennaro.jp
g
http://www.papaboys.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ampolla.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/pupar8c
A scientifically informed English-language critique of the marvel of
Januarius' supposed blood:
http://www.cicap.org/new/articolo.php?id=101014
You can now get an app for your iPhone enabling you to experience the
miracle at times of your own choosing:
http://www.napolitoday.it/cronaca/isangennaro-app.html
Further period-pertinent images of St. Januarius of Naples:
a) as depicted (martyrdom) in the late tenth- or very early eleventh-century
so-called Menologion of Basil II (Cittą del Vaticano, BAV, cod. Vat. gr.
1613, p. 50):
http://tinyurl.com/ow7bt5t
The lions represent an episode in Januarius' _Passiones_ in which they
become submissive when he is exposed to them in the amphitheater of
Pozzuoli. Only after that method of execution fails are he and his
companions taken to the Phlegraean Fields.
b) as depicted in a late eleventh- or early twelfth-century roundel in the
chiesa di Sant'Aniello at Quindici (AV) in Campania:
http://www.moschiano.net/Quindici/pages/affresco%2023_jpg.htm
The roundels depict Januarius and his traditional companions in martyrdom.
Expandable views of the entire composition are here:
http://www.moschiano.net/Quindici/Quindici_Affreschi.htm
c) as depicted in a twelfth- or thirteenth-century fresco in what's left of
the rupestrian cripta / chiesa di San Gennaro al Bradano in Matera (MT) in
Basilicata:
https://adonisannua.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/img_0700.jpg
d) as portrayed (with a base depicting in inlay the two ampules of the
saint's supposed blood) in an early fourteenth-century marble bust in the
chiesa di San Gennaro alla Solfatara in Pozzuoli:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030826025532/http://www.cyber-net.net/santuario
/image/foto1.jpg
e) as depicted (at right; at left, St. Athanasius of Naples) as depicted by
Pietro Cavallini (attrib.) in an early fourteenth-century fresco (betw. 1308
and 1320; abbreviated at right during eighteenth-century redecoration) in
the cappella Tocco in Naples' cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria
Assunta:
http://tinyurl.com/oovsl9w
f) as depicted (at left; at right, St. Restituta of Africa [or of Teniza, or
of Carthage]) in an earlier fourteenth-century mosaic (1322) by Lello da
Orvieto in the cappella di Santa Maria del Principio in the Santa Restituta
portion of Naples' cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Assunta:
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/16345656.jpg
g) as depicted (martyrdom) in an earlier fourteenth-century copy (ca. 1335)
of books 9-16 of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its
French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Arsenal 5080,
fol. 234v):
http://tinyurl.com/nw5bfg3
h) as portrayed (at far right, behind the kneeling cardinal Arrigo [Enrico]
Minutolo) in an early fifteenth-century statue (1407) by Antonio Baboccio in
the lunette of the central portal of the west facade of Naples' cattedrale
metropolitana di Santa Maria Assunta:
http://tinyurl.com/qezwg2t
The central figure of the Madonna enthroned is a survivor from Tino da
Camaino's earlier west facade of the later 1320s.
i) as portrayed in a late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century copper gilt
head reliquary of Italian origin in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110509/reliquary-unknown/
j) as depicted (panel at left; protecting Naples from Vesuvius) by Andrea
Sabatini (attrib.) in an earlier sixteenth-century fresco (ca. 1511-1530;
restored, 2008) in Naples' chiesa di San Gennaro extra moenia:
http://tinyurl.com/q9qu8hl
Best,
John Dillon
PS: The miracle did recur today. See:
http://www.ilmattino.it/NAPOLI/CRONACA/miracolo_di_san_gennaro_diretta_strea
ming_sul_mattino.it/notizie/1574114.shtml
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