Januarius

Saint Januarius was a deacon at Porto Torres in Sardinia and received the crown of martyrdom on 27 October 303, in the persecution of Diocletian, together with the priest Protus and the soldier Gavinus. He is a patron of the cities of Porto Torres and Sassari, together with his two companions in suffering.

According to tradition he was a young deacon shut up with Protus in a cave of the rock of Balai, on the site of the present church of Balai Vicino. The two were guarded by the soldier Gavinus, who was so struck by their faith under torture that he resolved to become a Christian and set them free, fleeing with them. Gavinus was caught and beheaded on the rock of lu Silesu. What happened afterward is less certain: it is said that the heads of the three martyrs, thrown into the sea, were found by the faithful together with the bodies and buried in the hypogea of San Gavino a mare.

The relics of Januarius are kept, with those of the other two, in the crypt of the basilica dedicated to them at Porto Torres. In the 15th century Bishop Antonio Cano spoke of them in a poem in the Sardinian language. They are commemorated on 25 October, by the Western calendar (new style), as saints of the undivided Church.