PATRON SAINT OF NAPLES

Evening Star, Issue 25170, 9 May 1944, Page 4

PATRON SAINT OF NAPLES

BLOOD FAILS TO LIPUEFY IN USUAL TIME j ™— REGARDED AS BAD OMEN Press Association—By Tel«rrapli—Copyright LONDON, May 7. Liquefaction of the blood of St. Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, which is reputed to occur annually on the first Saturday in May, was announced at 2.30 p.m. on Sunday by the ringing of bells. 'The solemnities began on Saturday, and many British and American officers were among those present. The liquefaction took 22 hours. A priest bore the liquefied blood among the slender congregation, evoking much emotion. The Naples correspondent of the British United Press says Cardinal Ascalese, when the blood failed to liquefy at the ceremony on Saturday, said: "This is the first time since 1884 that the blood has foiled to liquefy. Then a cholera epidemic followed. Even if the blood, liquefies in the next few days it will be a bad omen for Naples, and we can espect a visitation of disaster or catastrophe. It is punishment for the corruption of the Neapolitans."

[St. Januarius (Gennaro) was beheaded for his faith in the Diocletian persecution in 306 a.»; Two phials preserved in Naples Cathedral are believed to contain the blood of the martyr. The relic is shown twite a year—in May and September. On these occasions the substance contained: in the phials liquefies, and the Neapolitans see in this phenomenon a supernatural manifestation. It may hippen that a considerable time elaj>ses before the liquefaction takes ,plspe,'and sometimes it altogether fails, jits failure is regarded "by the populice as a matter of the gravest omen.j .'