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Three times each year the faithful of Naples pray for “the Miracle of the Blood” on the first Sunday in May, on Sept. 19 when they celebrate their patron saint San Gennaro and again on Dec. 16 which is the anniversary of the 1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. During these sacred events prayers are offered for the blood in San Gennaro’s reliquary to liquify from its solid state to fulfill the belief that this will protect them from adverse events.
The Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro in the Cathedral of Naples holds the ampoules of the blood of San Gennaro.
San Gennaro (Italian for Janarius) was born around 272 A.D., near Benevento. According to church records which document miracles attributed to men and women canonized by the Roman Catholic church, Januarius was born to a rich patrician family. He became a priest in his local parish at the age of 15 during a time when the area was still strongly pagan.
When Januarius was 20, he became the Bishop of Naples. He was also a friend to Juliana of Nicodemia and Deacon Sossius of Misenum, an important naval base of the Roman Empire in the Bay of Naples whom he met during his studies. During an eighteen-month lengthy period of persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian, he hid his fellow Christians and prevented them from being caught. When Sossius, who was now a deacon, was arrested Janarius went to visit him and he too was arrested.
The eruption of Vesuvius in 1631 by Domenico Gargiulo. | Wikipedia
Sossius was condemned by the judge Dragontius, who ordered him to be killed by wild bears in a local amphitheater. Bishop Gennaro was sentenced to be thrown to the lions. The next day, Gennaro’s sentence was delayed, either because the governor of the region was absent or because he realized that the people showed sympathy for the convicted. However, the faithful believe that he did not die, because miraculously, the lions knelt before the condemned after a blessing made by Gennaro. Dragontius then decreed that Gennaro, and his six companions were to be beheaded and this sentence was executed on Sept. 19, 305 A.D.
Immediately after his death, Gennaro’s childhood nurse Eusabia is believed to have collected and placed his blood into an ampoule. Eight years later, his body was moved to Naples and when the procession stopped in what is today Piazza Bernini in Naples, Eusebia put the vials containing his blood near his head and his blood liquified in the presence of the local bishop.
San Gennaro in a painting by the famous artist Caravaggio.
San Gennaro was named the patron and protector of Naples, and he is called on by Neapolitans to ask for help, healing, and special favors. Notably, he was called on to stop the lava flow which was about to destroy the towns around the volcano during the 1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. While many people were killed and towns on the slopes of the volcano were destroyed, the lava did slow down, and Naples was not directly damaged.
The bones and blood of St. Januarius – San Gennaro in Italian – are preserved as relics in Naples Cathedral. A vial containing the dried blood of the fourth-century martyr is put on public display three times a year in the city’s cathedral and the faithful pray for its liquefaction, known as the “Miracle of San Gennaro.” These events have been recorded since 1389. The faithful pray fervently for this miracle as they believe that the failure of the blood to liquefy signals war, famine, disease, or other disaster. The blood may take several hours or several days to change form but does not always do so. The blood has liquefied most often on the feast day in May and the celebration on Sept. 19, and on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May.
The statue of San Gennaro’s with the ampoule of his blood is carried through the streets of Naples. | Wikipedia
The annual celebration and feast of faith is held over the course of three days in September and is celebrated with a religious procession which winds through the streets of Naples. The silver bust of San Gennaro is carried on the shoulders of the faithful and is followed by religious and civil representatives and the faithful in an atmosphere of devotion and joy.
On Sept. 19, the Cathedral opens early in the morning and does not close until 9 p.m. Around 9 a.m. the Cardinal goes to the Chapel of the Treasure to collect the ampoules from a locked safe and they are taken to the main altar where fervent prayers will be made for the miracle of blood liquefaction. If this occurs the archbishop will then walk along the central nave until he reaches the outside of it, where he will announce the miracle to the faithful and to the entire city with the ringing of bells. Once the miracle takes place, 21 cannon shots are fired from Castel dell’Ovo.
If it fails to liquefy, this is believed to be a bad omen: a rare event that has happened on only a few occasions in history. The ampoule remains on display for eight days and during this period the lit-up city streets are filled with vendors selling food and gifts dedicated to the saint. There is also an endless stream of concerts and shows.
The May miracle takes place on the Saturday prior to the first Sunday in May. This ceremony includes the solemn procession of the bust of San Gennaro and the ampoules containing San Gennaro’s blood from the Cathedral to the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Piazza del Gesù. The procession commemorates the transfer of his relics from the Agro Marciano cemetery to the Catacombs of San Gennaro.
In recent years San Gennaro’s blood has failed to liquefy several times. Information cited on the website Catholic Online noted that according to Dormi A Napoli* the absence of the miracle has preceded 22 epidemics, 11 revolutions, three droughts, 14 archbishops death (within a 30-day period), nine dead popes (over a period of a few weeks), four wars, 19 earthquakes, and three religious persecutions. These records specifically note the year 1939, when World War II erupted; 1940, when Italy joined the war; 1943, when Italy was occupied by Nazis and in 1980, when an earthquake hit southern Italy. More recently the blood did not change in December 2020.
One of the largest and best-known festivals in honor of San Gennaro outside of Italy takes place in New York and was first celebrated in 1926 on Mulberry Street in Manhattan’s Little Italy. When large numbers of Italian immigrants from Naples settled in New York they maintained much of their cultural heritage, including the feast honoring San Gennaro. The first event held was a one-day religious commemoration which has since evolved into a multi-day festival organized and run by people from outside the neighborhood.
Centered on Mulberry Street and also along Hester Street and Grand Street, which is closed to traffic for the occasion, the festival features a variety of Italian foods as games, parades, and other such attractions. The Grand Procession is held on the last Saturday of the feast, immediately after a celebratory Mass at the Church of the Most Precious Blood. There is also a candlelit procession in which the statue of San Gennaro is carried from its permanent home in the Most Precious Blood Church through the streets of Little Italy.
In 1980, Vincent Palmisano brought the Feast of San Gennaro to Las Vegas for the first time. From 1986 to 2016, Tony Sacca, a longtime Vegas entertainer, began hosting and entertaining for the event along with other big celebrities from the strip. The festival is now held twice a year, in the spring and fall.
Another feast was founded by Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla and Doug DeLuca in 2002 which takes place in Los Angeles. In 2011, Hampton Bays began their San Gennaro Festival which is now the largest one on Long Island. A Feast of San Gennaro was also established in Belmar, N.J., in 2012.
The Mascio family started a feast in honor of San Gennaro when they settled in Seattle along with many other Italians. They formed a San Gennaro Foundation in 2013. The three-day festival now takes place in Georgetown, Washington the second week of September.
It should not come as a surprise that San Gennaro has many celebrants in the U.S. Between 1904 and 1932 approximately 93,000 passports were issued by the Questura of Napoli for those in the region who were emigrating. Numerous others followed in the following decades. The patron saint of Naples is carried in their hearts and prayers. Wherever he is celebrated they will call out Viva San Gennaro and pray for the “Miracle of the Blood.”
*Note: This information was provided by the site Catholic Online at www.catholic.org.
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