Today is the feast of St Januarius a bishop who was martryed under Dioclesian. He was a saint and martyr who died while visiting Christians imprisoned by Rome and forced to work as slaves in sulphur mines for the crime of being Christian. His body was brought to Naples, where his relics have been honoured since that time.
Each year in our home we remember this feast of the usual yearly miracle associated to this martry for Christ. St Januarius is famous for the liquidation of his dried blood (contained in a vial, so common to Roman martrys) on particular holy days each year. One such day, is his feast day, the 19th of September.
It is held up for pilgrims to see, in the hands of the priest where this vial is usually seen to bubble and liquify for a short period of time to attest to the faithful that he still watches over the city. I say usually, as it has on a few occasions failed to do so and usually it has been connected to disasters that have struck in that year.
For the feast of St Januarius we made some lovely berry drinks, in rememberance for this miracle - it is very simple 3 cups of apple juice, 1 cup of frozen blueberries and 1 cup of frozen raspberries in the blender, a very healthy and tasty drink - cheers to St Januarius!
Here is the news report of St Januarius's feast in 2008.
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I grew up in the Paterson, NJ area, which was home to many Neapolitan Italians. The Feast of San Gennaro was BIG! I suggest some fabulous Italian pastries to go with those delicious berry drinks. YUM!
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