Saint Januarius, patron saint of Blood Banks
Today is the feast of St. Januarius, The bishop of Naples, when the Blood of Naples Bishop, affectionately known as San Gennaro liquefies in recurring miracle.
The blood of saint Gennaro liquefied at the city's cathedral on Tuesday morning, The miracle was announced at exactly 10.03 by Archbishop Mimmo Battaglia, to lengthy applause from the faithful, according to Italian state broadcaster RAI News
The Church believes that the miracle takes place in response to the dedication and prayers of the faithful. When the miracle occurs, the mass of reddish dried blood, adhering to one side of the ampoule, turns into completely liquid blood, covering the glass from side to side.
According to documentation cited by the Italian media Famiglia Cristiana, the miracle has taken place since at least 1389, the first instance on re
The saint's blood traditionally liquefies three times a year: in commemoration of the transfer of his remains to Naples (the Saturday before the first Sunday in May); on his liturgical feast (Sept. 19), and on the anniversary of the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius in 1631 when his intercession was invoked and the city was spared from the effects of the eruption (Dec. 16).
In 250, Roman Emperor Decius implemented the first empire-wide, systemic persecution of Christians. As the bishop of Benevento, San Gennaro, along with his companions Festus, Desiderius, Sossus, Proculus, Euticius, and Acutius, Januarius was arrested as part of the Christian persecution of Diocletian in 305. The bishop and his friends were thrown into the lions den, not unlike when Daniel was thrown into the lion's den: The story of Daniel in the lion's den teaches us about the promises and faithfulness of God, even if we feel like everything has been lost. In Daniel's case some of the king's wise men were jealous, in an unwise move, the men knew Daniel prayed to God, so they tricked the king into making a new law. Anyone who prayed to God would be thrown into a lions' den. Daniel chose to pray to God anyway. God sent his angel to shut the lions' mouths while Daniel was in their den overnight. Surely Daniel prayed to God for his protection throughout his long night in the den! Surely San Gennaro prayed to God as well. Just like with Daniel, the lions did not touch San Gennaro or his friends.
"I often wonder how the soldiers and the crowds responded when this sort of thing happened. Did they yell at the lions? “Eat! Eat those awful Christians! Come on, they taste so good!” Or did some of them get scared and sense that these Christians might really be onto something?) Eventually, the soldiers decided to simply kill the men themselves. They chopped off their heads." Wrote Fr. Damian Ference in the piece titled Saint Januarius, patron saint of blood banks. Talk about a letdown!
According to the legend, after the martyrdom of San Gennaro, a woman collected and kept some of the martyr's blood in an ampoule, while bishop's body was placed first in Fuorigrotta and then in Catacombs of Capodimonte. Why would the women even fo that? Father Ferences says that Christians, because of their belief in the resurrection of the body, go to great lengths to assure the proper burial of a body. Just as Joseph of Arimathea asked for Jesus’ body after his death on the cross, some of the faithful would have requested the bodies and heads of Januarius and his six companions and in this case, the blood of San Genaro which made its way to Naples. The bishop’s bones are buried in the crypt of the cathedral. The ampoule still contains some of his dried blood.
Experiments have been conducted, yet there has been no medical or scientific explanation for this strange phenomenon. The brilliant Cardinal Newman said, “I think it impossible to withstand the evidence which is brought for the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius at Naples."
When the blood doesn’t liquefy, the Neapolitans take it as an omen of misfortune.
The blood did not liquefy in September 1939, 1940, 1943, 1973, 1980, nor in December 2016 and 2020.
The relic also remained solid the year Naples elected a communist mayor, but it spontaneously liquefied when the late Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Terence Cooke, visited the St. Januarius shrine in 1978
In 2015, while Pope Francis was giving some advice to the religious, priests, and seminarians of Naples, the blood liquefied again.
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