Hieromartyr Januarius Bishop of Beneventum, and the deacons Proculus, Sossius and Faustus, Desiderius the Reader, Eutychius and Acution, laymen

Januarius was bishop of Beneventum in Italy during the persecution under Diocletian and Maximian. Brought before Timothy, governor of Campania, he was thrown into a furnace and, according to his Life, came out unharmed. He was then stretched on the rack and beaten. Two clerics who wept at his torment were arrested too, and the party was taken to Pozzuoli, where more Christians were already imprisoned.

They were set before wild beasts which, the Life says, lay down at the bishop's feet. The governor, blinded, regained his sight at the bishop's prayer, and some five thousand are said to have believed. The governor then had Januarius and his companions beheaded outside Pozzuoli, about 305. His body was taken to Naples, where, according to tradition, his preserved blood liquefies when set near his head.