St. Januarius and Miracles
(St. Januarius - Feast Day: September 19)
St. Januarius was martyred during the Diocletian persecutions in 305 A.D. While the exact date of his martyrdom and even the facts about his life are not well known, there are legends and traditions that are handed down to us. Januarius and his friends were possibly thrown into an amphitheater with bears, but legend says that the bears would not attack them. Eventually they were beheaded, but St. Januarius’ blood was captured in a container and brought to Naples.
The small silver reliquary contains two phials of blood. One contains only traces of blood, but the other contains a decent amount. What is curious is that the dark gummy substance in the vial turns into liquid with regularity. A silver bust believed to contain the head of the martyr is brought out 18 times per year and placed on the altar of the Cathedral of St. Januarius. The reliquary is then brought out as well in view of the assembly and held by an officiant. On multiple occasions over the centuries, there is a liquefaction of the substance in the phial.
Of course, there have been many studies on this alleged miracle and many reconstructions in a scientific setting. Skeptics say that this is clearly not blood but instead some other substance. Or that the heat in the officiants hand has an effect. The miracle happens with consistent effect in September and May but not always in December. So, maybe heat plays a part. Or the way the reliquary is manipulated, etc. So, there are skeptics and they have brought up solid counter-points and counter-examples to try to debunk this miracle.
In 1902, a spectrometric examination yielded that at least traces of blood were contained in the phial because the during liquefaction the beam was consistent with the spectrometric results of blood. What is exceptionally curious however is what we can learn about the volume and mass of the substance in the phial from scientific examination. This is particularly striking to me and inexplicable.
In 1902 and 1904, a series of experiments were done on the reliquary, which has been hermetically sealed for hundreds of years. It would be easy to show scientifically if the seal had been broken. They weighed the reliquary and measured the volume of the substance contained. Neither the weight nor the volume were constant. In fact, on one occasion, the phial weighed 26 grams more when it seemed to be only half full than when it seemed completely full. There would have to be consistently egregious errors in observation to account for such fluctuations.
Quite a few people have converted to Catholicism after beholding the miracle, alleged or not. In the early 19th Century, the British chemist Sir Humphry Davy was convinced of the veracity of the miracle.
Along with the Shroud of Turin, a whole host of Eucharistic miracles (pardon the pun), the tilma of St. Juan Diego, the waters of Lourdes, and several other material miracles claimed within the Church, what are we to make of them?
Miracles are real. I feel like I should not have to say this, but the modernist world in which we live makes it necessary to restate the obvious. It’s not just that we cannot explain them; it is that things happen as the result of God’s Providence which directly contradict everything we know from scientific inquiry. In the Old Covenant, there were numerous miracles recorded. In the time of the Gospels, Jesus healed people, cast out demons, manipulated nature, and brought the dead back to life. (In a couple of days, I will make more remarks on why we can trust the historicity of the Gospels.)
Miracles are not necessary, but they are a support to our faith. In the age of the Church, consistent and powerful miracles have accompanied the work of the Church as testimony to the truth of Christ and His Church. Still today, miracles happen. It is good to have a healthy skepticism. But we should be open to the reality that God still does miraculous things and uses these wonders to soften our hearts.