Whether for you it is full of intense religious sentiment or whether you see it from the anthropological standpoint, the anniversary of San Gennaro (Saint Januarius) in Naples is one of those occasions that best capture the spirit of this wonderful city. An exciting mix of the sacred and the profane, in which the Catholic religion encounters legend and where mysticism overflows into magic.
The tradition
The feast of San Gennaro, protector and patron saint of Naples is celebrated on 19 September. For the occasion, the faithful and the devotees of the saint crowd the church and await the miracle of the liquefaction. The blood of the martyr, gathered up after his decapitation and conserved in two ampoules, liquefies as soon as it is shown to the congregation and the event is welcomed with applause and prayers of thanks. Prompt liquefaction is seen by believers as a good omen for the city and its inhabitants, while a delay or failure to liquefy is interpreted as something negative. The feast extends over the whole week.
As well as on 19 September, the “miracle” is also repeated on 16 December and on the first Sunday of May. According to the legend, in 305, Ianuario (this is the real name of the saint who was bishop of Benevento), after the edict of Diocletian who authorized the persecution of the Christians, was decapitated at the solfatara of Pozzuoli. The blood that gushed from the martyr's head was gathered up and conserved in two ampoules by the wet nurse Eusebia. Only after over a thousand years, in 1389 to be precise, did it begin to boil and give rise to shouts of "miracle".
The ritual
The celebration follows a well-defined programme. It begins in the morning using two keys to open the safe that contains the reliquary with the ampoules of San Gennaro's blood. The feast continues with the procession with the cardinal and the deputation of the Royal Chapel, followed by propitiatory prayers and a homily from the cardinal. In the case of the hoped-for miracle actually occurring, twenty-one cannon shots are fired from the castle, Castel dell’Ovo, to announce the fact to the city. If nothing happens, the invocations continue until the liquefaction occurs. One particularly singular and spectacular aspect of the celebration are the prayers and the pleas in Neapolitan dialect on the part of the “relatives” of the saint. If the miracle is slow to occur, they address San Gennaro with the epithet “faccia ngialluta”.
The Duomo
The ampoule with the blood of San Gennaro and also the saint's cranium are kept in Naples Cathedral. On the site where the church now stands there was originally a temple dedicated to Apollo. Inside the Duomo, the Chapel contains the bronze statue of the San Gennaro and 51 silver statues of the "joint patron saints". The treasure has been formed through various donations from sovereigns and rich worshippers. When the celebrations take place, the church is filled with the faithful to unlikely proportions.