Januarius

Holy Martyr Januarius is one of the martyrs of Abitinae in proconsular Africa, put to death in the persecution of Diocletian in the year 304. According to the known acts of their martyrdom, a group of Christians of the small town of Abitinae gathered on Sunday for the service, although an imperial edict forbade Christian assemblies and ordered the surrender of the holy books. They were seized, taken to Carthage and brought on 12 February before the proconsul Anullinus. There were forty-⁠nine in all. Their remembered reply was that they could not live without Sunday, that is, without the Lord's liturgy. They died in prison or under torture. They are commemorated on 12 February, in the Roman Martyrology (new style).

The account above is the usual one for the martyrs of Abitinae; the sources at hand give no personal details about Januarius himself.