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Home>>Catholic Relics

1787 Documented reliquary theca with relics of St. Januarius of Benevento, patron of of Naples

Oval glass-fronted silver pendant reliquary theca housing the first-class ex ossibus (of a bone) relic of Saint Januarius of Benevento. The relic is affixed to a silk ground surrounded by silver wire ornamentation and identified in Latin on a manuscript cedula label as S. Januarii E. (Saint Januarius, Bishop).  On the back the theca is secured with a seal of red Spanish wax bearing an imprint of a coat of arms of Archbishop Francesco Saverio Passari (†1808), Titular Archbishop of Larissa and Vicegerent of Rome. The relic is accompanied by the original matching authentics document issued and sealed by the order of Monsignor Passari in 1787.

Saint Januarius, also known as Januarius I of Benevento, was Bishop of Benevento is a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later sources claim that he died during the Great Persecution of Diocletian. When Januarius was 20, he became Bishop of Naples and befriended Juliana of Nicomedia and Saint Sossius. During the persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian, he hid his fellow Christians and prevented them from being caught. Unfortunately, while visiting Sossius in jail, he was arrested. He and his colleagues were condemned to be thrown to wild bears in the Flavian Amphitheater at Pozzuoli, but the sentence was changed due to fear of public disturbances, and they were instead beheaded at the Solfatara crater near Pozzuoli. The Feast of St Januarius or San Gennaro is celebrated on 19 September (Catholic Church) and 21 April (the Eastern Church). He is considered the principal patron of the city of Naples. In the United States, the "Feast of San Gennaro" is also a highlight of the year for New York's Little Italy, with the saint's polychrome statue carried through the middle of a street fair stretching for blocks.

Additional Info

  • ID#: 309-RSCR-35
  • Size: 28 x 23 mm
  • Age: ca. 1787
  • Origin: Rome, Italy
  • Materials: silver, glass, islk, paper, Spanish wax
  • Price: $2,750
  • Silver
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