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Catholics who commemorate the Feast of St. Januarius may celebrate two miracles—one ancient, one modern; one Old World, one New World. This past September 19, at the cathedral in Naples, Italy, dedicated to the fourth century martyr, dried blood preserved as a relic of the saint miraculously liquefied, as it has done nearly every year for the last seventeen hundred years. Half a world away, in New York’s Little Italy, descendants of Neapolitan immigrants remembered their Old World patron saint with a ten-day Festival of San Gennaro, much as they have done for the past eighty-seven years. As skeptics sadly...

The Miracle of San Gennaro was repeated on Monday when the blood of Naples' patron saint liquefied at 9.30am. The event was announced to the thousands packing the city's cathedral and square outside, who cheered and let off firecrackers. A visibly moved Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the Archbishop of Naples, held up a phial containing the blood of the 3rd-century saint while a traditional white handkerchief was waved. Cardinal Sepe took the opportunity to reject government plans to cancel a number of saints' days, saying: "Naples cannot be cancelled from history". Mayor Luigi de Magistris, elected in May, was among the...

Ending a three-month recount process, Jim Gennaro finally conceded to incumbent state senator Frank Padavan. In his statement, Gennaro, a Democrat, hammered away at Padavan for what he said was a systematic effort to "disenfranchise" voters, and said, "I call upon Mr. Padavan to apologize to every voter." During the recount, Gennaro refused to concede to Padavan, whose lead at one point narrowed to just over 500 votes. Padavan has said that it was Gennaro who was needlessly dragging this issue through the courts to overturn the official results. Here's Gennaro's statement: "2008 was an exciting and historic year for...

(ANSA) - Naples, September 19 - The Miracle of San Gennaro was repeated on Wednesday when the blood of this city's patron saint liquefied at 9.30am. The event was announced to the thousands packing the cathedral and square outside, who cheered and let off firecrackers. A visibly moved Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the Archbishop of Naples, held up a phial containing the blood of the 3rd-century saint while a traditional white handkerchief was waved. Cardinal Sepe said that, unusually, the blood was already in liquid form when it was taken out of the strongbox where it is stored. But the liquefaction...

SAN GENNARO: NEW MIRACLE(AGI) - Naples, Sept. 19 - The miracle of San Gennaro's blood that liquefies happened again in the cathedral of Naples during the feast of the Patron Saint, which is the anniversary of the martyrdom which took place in 305 A.C. at the Pozzuoli solfatara. It was announced by the archbishop, cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, who is going to celebrate for the first time on this occasion, after the reading of the Gospel. At 9.20 the archbishop said: 'I would like to announce that a few minutes ago the blood started to melt.' The announcement was welcomed by...

September 19 SAINT JANUARIUS BISHOP AND MARTYR AND HIS COMPANIONS MARTYRS Januarius is ever preaching the Gospel to every creature; for his miraculous blood perpetuates the testimony he bore to Christ. Let those who say who say they cannot believe unless they see, go to Naples; there they will behold the martyr's blood, when placed near his head which cut off sixteen hundred years ago, to liquefy and boil as at the moment it escaped from his sacred veins. No; miracles are not lacking in the Church at the present day. True, God cannot subject Himself to the fanciful requirements...