Last year it was not done and it was received as a sign of bad omen.
The Italian city of Naples (south) today experienced with relief the repetition of the so-called “miracle” of the liquefaction of the blood of Saint Genaro, its patron, which last year was not carried out and was received as a sign of bad omen.
Although the “miracle” had not been repeated throughout the day, around 6:00 p.m. local time (5:00 p.m. GMT) the abbot of the cathedral chapel, Vincenzo De Gregorio, showed the container containing the liquid blood to the joy of the faithful, who had spent the day praying in the temple, according to media reports.
This is one of the most deeply rooted traditions in superstitious Naples, which every year waits and contemplates in amazement how the blood of the holy martyr, preserved in a jealously guarded glass reliquary, regain its liquid appearance.
Specifically, the ampoule with the blood is exhibited three times a year: on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May, on September 19, during its patronal feast, and every December 16.
Science has questioned this phenomenon on multiple occasions and has requested the study of the substance preserved in the ampoules and tightly guarded in the Treasury Chapel.
A group of scientists assured in the journal Nature in 1991 that they had obtained a similar substance the color of blood from molisite dust (present in volcanoes) and with thixotropic properties, that is, it liquefied if it was shaken.
In any case, the non-liquefaction of the martyr’s blood, which has been repeated since 1389, is seen in Naples as a bad omen for the city and for the world.
The miracle did not happen, for example, in 1939, shortly before Nazi Germany caused World War II, and not in 1980, the year of the devastating Irpinia earthquake, which shook the region and caused thousands of deaths.
Of the three days on which this supposed “miracle” occurs, December 16 is perhaps the least known or popular.
On this December day, the same day in 1631 is remembered when a powerful eruption of the Vesuvius volcano threatened the city, which extends from its slopes to the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
They say that then the Neapolitans entrusted themselves to the patron saint, drawing his blood in procession, which was liquefied just at the moment when the lava stopped its way to the city. (I)
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