MIRACLE OF BLOOD.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12856, 30 September 1912, Page 7

MIRACLE OF BLOOD.

FESTIVAL OF ST.. JANUARIUS. EXCITEMENT IN NAPLES. LONDON, Sept. 21. Tho yearly miracle of the spontaneous boiling of the blood of St. Januarius in tho cathedral at Naples, was accomplished after two hours of hard praying. Inside the building the excitement was at its highest pitch, and the impatience of the congregation was such tnat the police, who take charge on these occasions, had tho utmost difficulty in keeping order and preventing the peoplo from rushing the high altar, where tho relic of the saint, in the shape of tho blood in a glass tube, is kept. Cardinal Prisco, who was present, ordered tho salute of 100 guns to be fired prematurely at 10-30 a.m. in order to allay the growing excitement of the crowd outside, who, believing that the liquefaction was then taking place, calmed down.

Meanwhile, prayers were repeated with greater fervour inside the cathedral, until noon, when the Wood really boiled.

At tho supremo moment the guns

were fired, and a "Te Deum" was sung. Tho beils peaied all over cue city, and tho Neapolitans, in a -;erJ:ect frenzy of joy, applauded and shouted and wept tears of happiness. They were convinced of immunity for another year from the eruptions of AlounG Vesuvius.

Sfc. Januarius, or San Gennaro, was a martyr of the Christian faith under tho Emperor Diocletian, and became bishop of Benevento in the latter part of the third century. His body is preserved in the crypt of the cathedral at Naples, and in a chapel of the same church are kept the head of the martyr, and a phial supposed to contain his blood. On three festivals in each year—the chief of which is the day of the martyrdom, September 19—as well as on occasions of public danger or calamity, earthquake, eruptions, and tho like, the head and the blood are carried in solemn procession to the high altar, Avhere, after prayer of longer or shorter duration, the blood is brought into contact with the head, and is believed to liquefy. Sometimes the act fails to take place, and this is regarded as an awful omen. On other occasions tho consummation of the operation is delayed, and then the congregation reaches the highest pitch of excitement. When the blood liquefies the people of Naples take it as a sign that Mount Vesuvius, which overshadows their city, will not erupt for at least <a year.