Januarius II

ON ST. JANUARIUS II, BISHOP OF BENEVENTO, CONFESSOR,

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE 4TH CENTURY.

Januarius II, bishop of Benevento. (S.)

BY G. V. H.

St. Januarius, the second of this name, must be carefully distinguished from St. Januarius I, his namesake. St. Januarius II, to be carefully distinguished from St. Januarius I, Each was a citizen of Benevento, each bishop of Benevento, each sprung from the Beneventan Januarian family, each a saint in life and merits, yet they passed to the heavens by a different kind of death. For that great Januarius, known to the whole world, the first of this name, renowned for his glorious martyrdom and, after his martyrdom, for the even more glorious yearly miracle of the liquefying blood, shed luster on Benevento while living and on Naples when dead; while this one, a confessor, rested in peace at Benevento half a century and more after his predecessor, the holy martyr. The distinguished Bishop Hefele History of the Councils, vol. I, p. 545, edition of 1873. rightly distinguished St. Januarius the confessor from St. Januarius the martyr; but in depriving this Januarius II of the title of sanctity he did so wrongly. For the second Januarius enjoys the title, name and honor of a saint at Benevento, his homeland, although the most renowned glory of the first Januarius must be said to have drawn, as it were, a cloud over the name and honor of the later one, so that among the clergy of the Beneventan church I found not even a man of the lowest bench who would flatly deny both the sanctity and the veneration of the second Januarius. For men are sometimes careless of the glory of their fathers. Nor is this the only example from which I have learned that there are ecclesiastics ignorant of and uncurious about the saints who are venerated in their churches.

[2] He enjoys public veneration in the Beneventan church. The public veneration shown by the Beneventan church to St. Januarius, citizen and bishop, is demonstrated clearer than daylight by two altars in the cathedral church of Benevento dedicated to God in this saint's honor. One is the altar of the holy pontiffs who have made the Beneventan see illustrious, among whom St. Januarius II is depicted on the altarpiece; proof of the fact, besides the eyes, is given by the authentic instrument of consecration, carried out on 8 December in the year 1692, which is found in the archives of the cathedral of Benevento, in the Register of instruments from the years 1686–1692, where among the saints in whose honor the altar was consecrated I myself read the name of Januarius the second, fol. 237. The other is the altar of the holy citizens of Benevento, among whom Januarius II is seen depicted on the altarpiece, whose name likewise the authentic instrument of consecration presents in the aforesaid Register, fol. 239. In a manuscript codex by Vipera, which codex is preserved in the archives of the archbishopric of Benevento, St. Januarius II is listed among the saints whose feasts the Beneventan church does not celebrate. In the diptych of Orsini, published at Benevento in the Provincial synod in the year 1691, St. Januarius is reckoned the nineteenth bishop of Benevento in the year 347. In the Beneventan Pinacotheca, by Giovanni de Nicastro, archdeacon of the Metropolitan church Book II, On the holy men and virgins of Benevento, chapter 3, p. 74., this mention is made of St. Januarius, the second of this name: St. Januarius II and the eighteenth bishop of Benevento succeeded St. Cassian, translated to immortal life, in the year three hundred and forty-seven. In that year, when Julius I was Supreme Pontiff, he took part in the Council of Sardica and subscribed thus: Januarius from Campania, Bishop of Benevento. In that same place stands his eighth chapter, on not ordaining another's minister of the church. Binius, in the Council of Sardica as published at Cologne, commended the memory of this holy bishop to posterity for all time with this brief notice: But from Italy the brightest lights made the same synod illustrious, bishops noble in holiness and of illustrious sees, the bishops Protasius of Milan, Severus of Ravenna, Lucillus of Verona, Januarius of Benevento. Finally, in the year three hundred and sixty-nine, rich in merits, he closed his last day. Our Cantelius [History, civil and ecclesiastical, of the metropolitan cities, part III, dissertation III, chapter 8, no. 6.], among the bishops of Benevento enrolled in the fasti of the saints, lists the name of St. Januarius the second in the year 343, who took part in the synod of Sardica. Mario de Vipera, archdeacon of Benevento [Chronology of the bishops and archbishops of the metropolitan church of Benevento, p. 17.], had said almost word for word what Giovanni de Nicastro brought into his Pinacotheca. Ughelli Italia sacra, vol. VIII, p. 15. reports much the same as those preceding: he also brings forward the same subscription of St. Januarius to the Council of Sardica, namely: Januarius from Campania, of Benevento, which he confirms in vain by the example of other bishops who, besides the city, added the province too to the subscribed name. For Benevento is not in the province of Campania. In this Venice edition of the Italia Sacra, in the place cited, after the notice of Januarius there is added from Lucenzi: In the month of November the Beneventan church indicates the memory of this saint: the year of his death is unknown. This note of Lucenzi is the cause for which we have Januarius assigned to this day.

[3] He took part in the Council of Sardica. Not many things have been handed down to memory about St. Januarius II. Yet not undeservedly the distinguished Binius, in his notes on the Council of Sardica, p. 488 of the Cologne edition, numbers our Januarius among the brightest lights of Italy, as a bishop noble in holiness and of an illustrious see. For he played such a part in the council as shows a man grave in authority and most zealous for ecclesiastical discipline. His is canon XVIII, which is found only in Latin (not VIII, as is read in Ughelli Place cited.). In Mansi New and most ample collection of the sacred councils, vol. II, p. 650. it is reported thus: Januarius the bishop said: Let your holiness decree this too, that no bishop may be permitted to solicit an ecclesiastical minister of another bishop's city and ordain him in his own parishes. All said, Agreed: because from these contentions discord is accustomed to be born; and therefore the opinion of all forbids anyone to dare to do this. The Greek text does not have this canon; but in Hefele's judgment it was once in the Greek copies, as may be concluded from that ancient version in which it is found in Mansi Ibid., vol. VI, p. 1207.. The Greek canon XV is of nearly the same sense: wherefore in the Corpus Juris Canonici Dist. LXXI, chapter I. canons XVIII and XIX (Greek XV) of the Latin text have grown together into one from the two. In the list of subscriptions in Labbe Greatest collection of councils, vol. II, p. 658., fifth in order, immediately after the great Athanasius, there subscribes Januarius, bishop of Benevento. This we judge to be the legitimate subscription of St. Januarius; but we consider illegitimate and spurious that other one which we find in the fragments of Hilary, where in the 15th place is read Januarius from Campania, of Benevento. This Giovanni de Vita rightly hisses off the stage Treasury of Beneventan antiquities, vol. I, pp. 154, 155.: for Benevento never belonged to Campania. To this we shall add the observation of Philippe Labbe Volume cited, p. 659.: In an ancient manuscript codex, after Osius these three are listed: Vincent of Capua, legate of the holy Roman church, Januarius of Benevento, legate of the church of SS., Calepodius of Naples, legate of the church of SS. Then the same Philippe Labbe a certain annotation of Pierre Crabbe in the edition of the year 1551. Where, among various opinions on the number of the fathers of the Council of Sardica, these things are read. But in Dist. 26 in the Decretals *, chapter Sexta Synodus, it is read thus: The fourth synod, of Sardica, in which 60 fathers established 21 canons, whose author was chiefly Osius, bishop of Cordoba, and Vincent of Capua and Januarius of Benevento and Calepodius of Naples were legates of the holy Roman church Ibid.. There were therefore those who counted Januarius among the legates of Julius I to the Council of Sardica, whether this rumor arose from the known holiness and learning of the man, or the opinion was born from the order and place of the subscriptions. Be that as it may, I gladly assent to Baronius Eccl. Annals, at the year 347, no. 10., writing at the year 347, no. 10: Legates were sent to the council at Sardica by Julius the Roman pontiff, the presbyters Archidamus and Philoxenus: Athanasius testifies to this Apology against the Arians (P. G., vol. XXV, p. 338)., who we think is to be believed much more than Gratian Corpus juris canonici, dist. XVI, chapter XI., who counts other legates of the Apostolic See at the synod of Sardica, namely the bishops Vincent of Capua, Januarius of Benevento and Calepodius of Naples. Nevertheless this error commends Januarius, so great was the fame of whose merits that posterity set him as an equal beside Osius, Vincent, Calepodius, men of the highest rank.

[4] St. Januarius II seems to be joined in blood with Januarius I; We said at the beginning that both Januarii, holy bishops of Benevento, drew their origin from the same Beneventan family of the Januarii. For this second Januarius of ours the case is beyond controversy; for the other, the first, who fell a martyr in the persecution of Diocletian in the year 305, the people of Benevento and of Naples fight it out between themselves. It is not ours to compose the opinions of those who disagree. Yet because this place demands that we make mention of the matter in dispute, I shall disclose to which side I yield. I agree with the distinguished Giovanni de Vita Work cited, vol. I, dissertation III. that it is subject to no doubt that the holy martyr Januarius, whose glorious miracle makes Naples illustrious every year, drew his origin from the Beneventan family of the Januarii, and that this family, the flower of Benevento, rightly and deservedly glories in both holy bishops.

[5] The day of his birth and of his death is unknown. Of the year of St. Januarius the second's birth and of the year of the saint's death I have nothing that I may affirm without hesitation. Certain history offers one single mark of time, namely the year 347, in which Januarius took part in the Council of Sardica. I think therefore that he had already occupied the Beneventan see for some time before he set out for the council. Giovanni di Nicastro, in the Pinacotheca praised above, affirms without any ground that Januarius succeeded St. Cassian in the year 347; without ground, again, he assigns the year of his death to three hundred and sixty-nine. But since the year 347 saw Januarius a bishop, we believe with probable reason that he spent the years of his boyhood with his most holy kinsman Januarius the first, and from the instruction of this most holy man received the most precious seeds of future holiness. For there is apt to be something of the divine spark in an elect family of saints, especially if it has been consecrated by the blood of martyrs. Most of the saints who enjoy public veneration seem to have sucked piety with their mother's milk.

* correct to Decretum part I, Dist. XVI, chapter XI.