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Angela di pietro
Nothing to do, the blood of San Gennaro did not melt even yesterday afternoon at 6.30 pm, on the occasion of the mass celebrated by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe. The 6.30pm attempt was the third attempt of the day, after the ampoule was removed from the reliquary of the San Gennaro chapel in Naples Cathedral at both 9am and 4.30pm. San Gennaro did not perform the miracle, confirming the ominous air that characterizes the current year, infested by the pandemic and the economic crisis. The cardinal, sensing the generalized panic among the Neapolitans, tried in some way to reassure those present. “We want to make an act of true and deep devotion to San Gennaro because we are united in his name – he said – but even if the blood does not melt, it does not mean who knows what.” The cardinal took the container of blood in his hand and before imparting his blessing added: “Everything is written in the heart of God and Gennaro.”
The “lost” miracle has not occurred since 2016. And to say that on the two previous occasions in 2020 (there are three in which blood melts) Saint Gennaro had comforted the believers. Mission accomplished both on May 2 and September 19, in correspondence with the celebration of the feast of the Saint. And yet yesterday, the third and decisive appointment with the “secular miracle” released the tremor of generalized anxiety. The blood of the patron saint of Naples is considered a kind of urban totem. Fluidization has been associated with an auspicious message since 1389. When it hasn’t happened, something unpleasant has always happened. In 1939, for example, it marked the start of World War II. In 1943 the Nazi occupation. In 1973 the cholera epidemic. In 1980, the earthquake. Ultimately, what does San Gennaro mean by not allowing his blood to liquefy? Is yours a warning or an advertisement, just to quote a chorus from Massimo Troisi’s “Smorfia”? Yesterday morning, the abbot of the hermitage of San Gennaro Vincenzo De Gregorio gave the dire news, assuring that the blood had remained solid. The news had spread through the alleys and up to the top of Vesuvius, crossing regional borders. It is true that the Neapolitans believe but without fanaticism, but it is equally true that unfortunately the coincidences have only confirmed the thesis according to which solid blood does not “bring good”.
It is true that this year the ritual has undergone an important change, being exported to the cathedral after having been repeated countless times in the chapel where it is kept. Anti-covid restrictions made it impossible to celebrate in such a small environment, which is the reason for the change of venue. What are you doing now? Are you waiting for the cataclysm? According to Sepe, there is no need to worry. And there is another hypothesis: San Gennaro just wanted to confirm that in Italy (and in Campania) there is bad air. In short, the lost miracle would be the endorsement of an already written report and not the announcement of a rush of events. Curiosities: do you know how the blood of San Gennaro came to the Church? It appears that a woman inserted the blood substance of the murdered martyr into two vials, probably donating it to a bishop. The legend is mixed with historical truths.
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