Saints celebrated on the 3rd of May
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SAINT JUVENALIS, BISHOP OF NARNI
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Saint Juvenalis, (commemorated on May 3, and also on August 7), was Bishop of Narni (Narnia) in Umbria. According to his Life (biography), which the Bollandists* compiled from several old manuscripts, Juvenalis came to the city of Narni in 369 as a doctor and priest on a journey from Africa to Rome and was taken into the house of a pious matron named Philadelphia. There were several Christians in this city at that time, but no bishop. In order to obtain one, several respected citizens travelled to Rome and asked Pope Damasus to ordain the priest Juvenalis as their bishop, whom they considered a very holy man. Their request was granted and they returned to their city with the newly consecrated bishop. Immediately after his return, Juvenalis exhorted each and everyone to abandon every trace of idolatry and become most dedicated worshippers of Christ and of Christ only. In the house of prayer (oraculum) dedicated to the bishop and martyr Valentine, he celebrated the most holy Mysteries and performed many miracles.
One day, as he was on his way to the assembly of Christians, Juvenalis passed a bronze bull which had been put up in front of the temple of Bacchus, from which just at that very moment a pagan priest emerged, having offered sacrifice. The priest seized the saint who was walking past and, wanting to coerce him to eat of the idol sacrifice, put the hilt of his sword in his mouth to force it open - which Juvenalis, however, gripped with his teeth by biting hard on it. Thereupon the blasphemeral attacker, in an effort to retrieve his sword from the mouth of the holy bishop, pulled so hard that he, by jerking it towards himself, drove the weapon into his own throat, spewing bloody foam, and after crying out, "O avenger of Briareus, save me!" he gave up the ghost. The pagans around the temple, who had watched the grisly spectacle, were amazed, believed, and were baptised.
In the fifth year of his episcopal ministry, Sarmatians and Ligurians turned up at that region to destroy the cities and take plunder. They had already taken the city of Terni (Interamnium) and laid siege to Narni. Saint Juvenalis and his faithful prayed to the Lord and sang the following verses from Psalm 34 on the city walls: "Let their way be dark and slippery, and the angel of the Lord pursue them. For they have hidden the ruin of their snare from me without cause; they have brought shame on my soul without cause. Let the snare he does not remember come upon him, and the net he has hidden snare him." After finishing this hymn, he prayed aloud, and after everyone had said their "Amen" with tears in their eyes - lo and behold - thunder, lightning, and a torrential rain arose so terribly that more than 3,000 of the besieging men drowned near the old wall at the Temple of Hercules, and thus the city was saved.
After seven years of serving as bishop, Saint Juvenalis died on August 7, 376. His feast day, however, is celebrated on May 3, the day he is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology* and in the Roman Breviary, in the 9th lesson, along with the holy martyrs Alexander, Eventius, and Theodulus, as Bishop of Narni, who died in peace, famous for his holiness and miracles. It is stated there that he died on May 3; but the Bollandists* assume that in fact he received episcopal ordination on that day.
Saint Juvenalis was buried near the upper gate on the Flaminian Road. Under his successor, Maximus, a magnificent church was built from funds collected by sailors who had been rescued from a terrible sea storm by an apparition of the saint, and his body was preserved in a coffin made of marble, gold, and silver. On the memorial day, a sap flows from the coffin, which is collected with a sponge and placed in containers; mixed with holy oils, this sap brings health to many sick people.
In the 9th century, Margrave Adalbert of Tuscany treacherously seized the city of Narni and had Saint Juvenalis exhumed. The holy body was found completely incorrupt and brought to Lucca. However, when various plagues broke out among the inhabitants of Lucca following the illegal translation of the relics, they decided to return Saint Juvenalis' mortal remains to Rome, where many miracles were wrought through the veneration of the saint.
From Rome, however, the saint was brought back to Narni and transferred there several times. The last translation took place in 1649. The Bollandists* have his picture on page 403 and a beautiful drawing of his high altar on page 405.
Because the inhabitants of Fossano (Fossanum, Fons sanus) in Piedmont claimed that the body of the saint was brought to them from Rome, the Bollandists* deal with this matter and provide many documents in their work (on pages 406-417), and ultimately arrive at the conclusion that Saint Juvenalis of Fossano was probably someone other than the Bishop of Narni, perhaps a bishop driven from Africa by the Vandal king Huneric, who died on Italian soil.
Finally, we would like to mention that, according to the Bollandists*, this holy Bishop Juvenalis of Narni was titled "bishop and martyr" by Saint Gregory the Great, which is why he is referred to as a martyr in many other writings. Since no actual martyrdom is known of him, two bishops of Narni with the name Juvenalis are assumed to have existed, one of whom would have been a confessor and the other a martyr.
However, nothing of this is known in Narni, and so it is likely a confusion with the holy martyr Juvenalis who is venerated in Benevento on May 7, but appears in several martyrologies on May 2, 3, 5, and 6.
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 3, Augsburg, 1869, pp. 585-86)
*A hagiography source used by the authors
Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Juvenalis may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org
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