Feast of St. Januarius
(San Gennaro)

San Gennaro, the Bishop of Benevento, was beheaded, with his Companions, at Pozzuoli in A.D. 305 by Diocletian for refusing to worship pagan idols. Ever since at least A.D. 1389, his dried blood, a solid mass inside a silver reliquary in the Cappella del Tesoro (Chapel of the Treasure) of the 13th c. Naples Cathedral (the "Duomo"), liquifies, and sometimes even "boils" or froths. His blood is kept in two vials inside the reliquary which is topped by a crown and a cross. When the Bishop takes the vial to the Altar that holds the Saint's head, the people, who gather by the thousands, pray that the blood becomes liquid once again. If the miracle takes place, the officiant proclaims, "Il miracolo é fatto!" and a man waves a white handkerchief to visually signal to the crowds. Then a Te Deum is sung and the reliquary is taken to the altar rail so the faithful can kiss the vial. If the miracle doesn't take place, disaster is imminent, it is believed. I can't come up with a complete record concerning the times the blood failed to liquefy, but have discovered that it failed to do so at these times in just the last century, and with the following alleged consequences: September 1939: Italy enters WWII nine months later September 1940: IItaly enters the war and suffers numerous military defeats September 1943: the Nazi occupation of Italy September 1973: the next year, Italian voters voted wrongly on their 1974 Italian divorce referendum, thereby affirming the "right" to divorce September 1980: two months later the area around Irpinia, east of Naples, suffered a devastating earthquake that killed almost 3,000 people December 2016: four months later, in January of 2017, four major earthquakes rocked central Italy December 2020: Covid Regarding the blood itself, the Catholic Encyclopedia informs us that In 1902 Professor Sperindeo was allowed to pass a ray of light through the upper part of the phial during liquefaction and examine this beam spectroscopically. The experiment yielded the distinctive lines of the spectrum of blood... ...Most remarkable of all, the apparent variation in the volume of the relic led in 1902 and 1904 to a series of experiments in the course of which the whole reliquary was weighed in a very accurate balance. It was found that the weight was not constant any more than the volume, and that the weight of the reliquary when the blood filled the whole cavity of the phial exceeded, by 26 grammes, the weight when the phial seemed but half full. This miracle takes place three times a year: on the first Saturday before the first Sunday of May when his relics were translated; on his Feast -- September 19 -- when he was martyred; and on December 16, the anniversary of the eruption of the Mount Vesuvius in 1631, when the lava stopped at the doors of Naples. But it's on his feast that the miracle is followed all over the world. The vial of St. Gennaro's blood The Bishop holds the vial of blood while a man waves a handkerchief After the miracle -- or the failure thereof -- his relics are processed from the cathedral to the Basilica of Santa Chiara, about an hour's walk away, and if the miracle occurs, a cannon is fired twnety-one times to announce it to the city. Along the procession route, petals are rained down from balconies. On the folk tradition level, "le Parenti di San Gennaro" ("the relatives of San Gennaro") -- a group of mostly older local women -- gather at the cathedral in Naples before the hoped-for miracle. They sit in the front row, and beg, plead, cajole, and otherwise pray to the Saint to make the miracle happen. "Oh, great and handsome Saint, don't sleep! Wake up and protect our city!" And they sing: San Gennaro mio putente prega a Dio pe’ tanta gente San Gennaro mio protettore prega a Dio nostro Signore San Gennaro, my powerful one pray to God for all the people San Gennaro, my protector pray to God our Lord If the miracle is slow to take place (it can take hours or, sometimes, even days), or doesn't take place at all, they tease him like old cranky, loving aunts or grandmothers, even calling him "faccia ‘ngialluta" -- "yellow-face" -- because of the golden hue of his face on his reliquary. Because San Gennaro is the Patron Saint of Napoli, he is dear to the Southern Italian people, and in New York City, where there's a large Italian American population, there's a huge celebration in his honor in Little Italy (the big Italian festival that was taking place in Godfather III was the Feast of San Gennaro. The big New York City feast in Godfather II was the Feast of San Rocco). Finally, I leave you with this song -- Faccia Gialla (Yellow Face) -- which recalls the horrors that happened when the miracle of San Gennaro's blood failed to take place, and pleads with our Saint to save Naples from calamity. It is sung by Enzo Avitabile in a very southern Italian way, with the dropping of last syllables and such . Mièzo all’addore da solfatara ‘Ngopp ‘a na preta sotto a na spada Duorme Pozzuoli, suonni arrubbati Da coppo ‘a muntagna fino ‘o mare è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua Sotto a n’editto ‘e n’imperatore Catacombe e persecuzioni Tu nobile vescovo ‘e Benevento Nu filo d’evera contro ‘o viento è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua Faccia Gialla squaglialo! Fallo, fallo stu miracolo Faccia Gialla squaglialo! Fallo, fallo pe stu popolo Chella vota c’a vedetteme nera Sissantamila muorte ‘d culera Bello e buono ‘e turchi nà sera Pò nata vota fuie famma e a sete è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua Faccia Gialla squaglialo! Fallo, fallo stu miracolo Faccia Gialla squaglialo! Fallo, fallo pe stu popolo è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua è sango e nun è acqua Amidst the aches of Solfatara* On top of a stone, under a sword Pozzuoli sleeps, stolen dreams From the top of the mountain up to the sea It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water Under an emperor’s edict Catacombs and persecutions You, noble bishop of Benevento Blade of grass against the wind It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water Yellow Face, melt it! Do it, do it this miracle Yellow Face, melt it! Do it, do it for this people That time we saw black 60,000 dead from cholera All of the sudden, the Turks one evening Then another time there was hunger and thirst It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water Yellow Face, melt it! Do it, do it this miracle Yellow Face, melt it! Do it, do it for this people It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water It’s blood, not water  * Solfatara is the volcanic crater in Pozzuoli where San Gennaro was martyred

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