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.
Saint Cecilia was a Roman martyr venerated in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden. She became the patroness of music and musicians, it is written that, as the musicians played at her wedding, Cecilia "sang in her heart to the Lord". Musical compositions are dedicated to her, and her feast, on 22 November, is the occasion of concerts and musical festivals. St Cecilia is one of several virgin martyrs commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass in the Latin Church.
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