Page 5 - Italian-American Herald - September 2024

CULTURE
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
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San Gennaro in a painting by the famous artist Caravaggio.
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