The historic procession of the patron saint, San Gennaro, had not taken place in Naples for three years – first due to bad weather, and then due to the two-year pandemic – but when the ampoules containing the blood of the patron: it was already liquefied, contrary to usual.
Liquefaction, it is an auspicious sign for the whole year, and it is a very auspicious sign for the city who – believers or non-believers – await the ancient rite with respect and deference every year.In the miracle, which has been repeated every year since the very heartfelt and well-attended celebration was established, what happened today has happened very rarely during the centuries from which the feast has been in force. However, the faithful present applauded with joy: the important thing – to bring luck – is that it is liquid.
Now the relics will still be carried in procession from the cathedral to the basilica of Santa Chiara, thus resuming the sacred procession which has taken place for centuries on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May.
A centenary tradition
Traditionally, the procession of faithful leaves from the cathedral with the casket containing the blood, and with the bust of the patron saint of Naples and Campania, together with the statues of some patron saints. On this occasion the prodigious event of the liquefaction of the blood of the martyr Gennaro occurred (almost always). The procession is in remembrance of the “translation of the relics of the Saint from the cemetery”, located in the countryside of Marciano, in the territory of Fuorigrotta, up to the Catacombs of Capodimonte, later called, for this reason, of San Gennaro.
The curiosities of the ritualThe casket with the saint’s blood is usually taken out of the safe, in the chapel dedicated to him, by the metropolitan archbishop, assisted by a high prelate and by the mayor of the city – by statute president of the Deputation – as well as by the governor of the Region, Vincent DeLuca. During the Eucharistic celebration, if the liquefaction of the blood occurs, the archbishop announces it to the assembly while there is the historic waving of the white handkerchief, by a representative of the Deputation. At the end, the archbishop takes the casket to the square of the Cathedral to ideally show it to the city and to bless all the Neapolitans and Campanians.
The miracle that has been repeated three times a year for centuriesFortunately, the miracle of San Gennaro occurs three times during the year: the first time in May (precisely today), then on September 19th – the date on which the martyrdom of the saint is remembered – and finally on December 16th on the occasion of the “Feast of the patronage of San Gennaro”, which recalls the eruption of Vesuvius in 1631 and the lava which, according to legend, stopped covering Naples thanks to the invocation of the Saint.
