Naples shakes before the miracle of the saint fails

It was a bad week for Naples. Already sank under the weight of crime, garbage, decomposition and the ordeal of being in Campania, one of the regions most affected in Italy by the Corona virus, the city suffered a new disaster. The blood of the patron saint of Naples, Gennaro, fails to liquefy.

Three times a year, the dried blood of the fourth century martyr, found in a glass container, is carried in a procession high below the central aisle of the city cathedral and raised before the faithful to pray for its liquidation, known as the “miracle of San Gennaro.” In the other two ceremonies this year, According to Cardinal of Naples, Crescenzio Sepi, blood shed “without clots.” But this week, despite coordinated prayer and special mass, the miracle did not happen.

This is not a matter of light. Failure is a bad omen, a potential precursor to plague, famine, and the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius. When blood did not melt on September 19, 1980, in memory of the saint’s martyrdom, a massive earthquake struck southern Italy two months later, killing more than 3,000 people. You might say a coincidence. The people of Naples would say otherwise.

Gennaro was martyred in 305 AD by Emperor Diocletian. According to legend, it took him at least three attempts to kill him. First, he survived the burns at stake. Then he threw at the lions that stubbornly refused to eat it. Finally, his head was cut off. During the agony of the saint’s death, a pupil called Yusabiya squeezed blood from his neck and sealed it in a bottle. These remains, along with Gennaro’s corpse, were brought to Naples in 1497 and deposited in the cathedral – the corpse in the crypt under the main altar, the blood, found in the relics, in a separate chapel.

The miracle has never been approved by the Vatican – it is a matter of absolute indifference to the people of Naples. A mixture of bleak religious rituals, social event, and high church parades, with more than a hint of pagan spirit enveloping the city like a shroud, it is one of the greatest religious scenes, and most importantly one of the greatest displays of popular piety.

When I attended the party a few years ago, at eight in the morning, the cathedral was enticing with the great, benevolent and varied greats of Naples: nuns, priests, various dignitaries, high-dressed ladies, dark-looking gangsters. In improbably luxurious suits. Sitting in the front seats is a group of ruthless little old ladies who ferociously bend themselves in the sweltering heat, known as the zie de San Gennaro – or “Saint Gennaro’s Aunts” – a body whose members claim to be descendants of a blood saint. It is their role to beg Gennaro to perform the miracle – with prayer and spells or, if the rebellion is proven, by means of insults: it is better to address him with “faccia n’gialluta” or “Yellowface”.

Amidst clouds of incense, the procession carrying a silver coffin the size of a suitcase and containing ammunition made its way through the passage to the altar where the Cardinal of Naples waited. He took an ordnance worker from the shrine and wrapped it around the cardinal’s neck. He grabbed him by the hand and began to pray as incantations filled the cathedral like a soccer hymn. “San Gennaro, San Gennaro …”

The moment of truth has come. As the wizard blossomed, the cardinal turned the ordnance container upside down and stared at the bottle. From where I was standing, it was clear that blood had liquefied and was flowing down the inside of the bottle. The Cardinal turned his eyes towards the sky. He said, “It has started.” Next to him, he wore a mantle, scarf and scarf theatrically waving a large white handkerchief over his head. A chorus of enthusiastic chants rose in the cathedral. Bells rang and the chorus exploded in song. “San Gennaro praised!”

Various theories have been put forward to explain the miracle. There was speculation that the blood was cut with honey; That the bottle contains some other materials that flow when exposed to heat and light. The cathedral never allowed the bottle to be opened for investigation for fear that it would break, but a spectroscopy conducted in 1989 indicated that the substance in the bottle was indeed dry blood that at the time of the miracle became “like blood that passes through a system of living blood vessels.”

All of this, of course, has nothing to do with San Gennaro’s intelligence. A miracle is not a test of reason, but a test of faith. Watching their faces cry tears of joy would have taken a heart of stone not to waver. I once told this scene by Christopher Hitchens, an atheist to the core. He was terrified. “You realize that all these women would have supported Mussolini,” he said, curved. That may be true, but definitely off-topic. Faith, in this context at least, is not a display of political loyalty, but rather a consolation to the human heart. My heart, upon reading the news of the failure of the miracle, went out to the uniform of San Gennaro, to Naples. Confused, besieged and frightened city, holding its breath. But it’s not fair to say that it usually is.

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