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Naples, December 16, 2020 – Telling the story of miracle of San Gennaro, ‘Yellow face ‘, means to go back on the history of the city of Naples and your people. San Gennaro is in the devotion of its citizens, in their hopes and in their constant prayers. Not only that: it is a symbol of social redemption, it is the common denominator that marks life, it is absolute faith, adoration but also folklore.
Today, for the third time in the year (the other two are the first Sunday in May and September 19), the Neapolitans and the more than 25 million devotees of the world await their miracle: the liquefaction of blood, an omen event good luck.
San Gennaro, no miracle. What happened when the blood didn’t melt?
San Gennaro ‘Yellow Face’
“Face ‘ngialluta, accurre and stuta’ is the radiance of ‘hell. Ora pro nobis “or” Yellow face, hurry up and put out this blaze that comes from hell. Pray for us. “This is one of the prayers recited by Neapolitans since 1631, when a terrible eruption of Vesuvius devastated the city and caused numerous’ Yellow Face ‘or’ Faccia ‘ngialluta’ is the name by which devotees call San Gennaro to express greater affection, devotion and closeness to the saint. This is because the statue that is carried in procession through the streets of the capital has the golden face, then the yellow face. December 16 is the same day in that the Neapolitan saint put an end to the eruption of the volcano. As reported in an ancient manuscript, written by a Carthusian monk in charge of the Certosa di San Martino di Napoli, that day the saint’s blood melted, the lava of the vulcune stopped.
Because the blood of San Gennaro melts
In the Cathedral of Naples the vials with the blood of the saint collected at the time of his martyrdom are kept. Three times a year, as we said, the prodigious event of the dissolution of the contents within them occurs. While this is a miracle for devotees, for many others it remains a puzzle to be solved. Science has tried it and the best known experiment dates back to 1991 when some researchers from the Cicap from the University of Pavia and directed by Luigi Garlaschelli have tried to unravel the Neapolitan mystery. In a later article Nature, scholars have turned to the concept of ‘thixotropy’, that is, the ability of some substances to dissolve from the solid state when stirred.
During the rite, in effect, the archbishop removes the two vials and shakes them in front of the faithful, but the explanation does not convince everyone. In fact, as has happened today, the blood does not always melt although the procedure of the ceremonial is always the same. Since there has never been a verification of the relic and its contents according to a scientific approach, the phenomenon remains inexplicable. However, it must be remembered that the official Church has never considered the transmutation of the blood of San Gennaro a true miracle but rather a ‘prodigy’.
Miracle and wonder, the difference
Little known is the difference between miracle and wonder. The word ‘miracle’ It derives from the Latin ‘miraculum’ and that is ‘wonderful thing’. In theology, it is an extraordinary fact, above natural laws, that is considered operated by god directly or through one of his creatures, such as the saints.
To define an extraordinary event as a miracle, the Church follows a specific process. According to the current procedure, defined in 1983, the investigation carried out by the Church is based on a careful analysis of the facts by a council appointed by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints made up of specialists both believers and non-believers, which verifies whether He case in question satisfies the seven criteria defined by Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, later Pope Benedict XIVNel slaves of beatification and canonization of the Blessed of 1734.
the prodigyInstead, it is a fact, phenomenon, event that transcends, or seems to transcend, the natural order of things, interpreted as divine prediction. It can be divine in nature, therefore, or angelic in nature, therefore also demonic. The prodigy does not follow the procedure provided by the official Church. The miracle, in turn, is a wonder, because it violates natural laws, but of certain and exclusive divine attribution. .
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