NAPLES, Italy (Reuters) – Wednesday was not a good day for superstitious neopolitics.
The blood of San Gennaro, the patron of Naples, failed to heal, despite two rounds of prayers by the faithful, which the southern Italian city sees as some of the bad things to come.
A vial of dried blood of a fourth-century martyr is placed on public display in the city’s cathedral three times a year, and believers pray for its luster, known as the “miracle of San Gennaro.”
It did not happen despite the hours of prayer on Wednesday morning and a special Mass in the afternoon. Fewer people than usual were admitted to the cathedral due to coronavirus restrictions.
Scientists say that the substance inside the sealed vial appears to be dry blood, but cannot explain why it sometimes turns into a liquid and why it does not.
Neopolitans are particularly alarmed if the vial is brought for public worship in less than two months, even if the blood does not liquefy on the feast day of the saint, September 19 – the Saturday before the first Sunday in May and on December 16.
When the blood failed to liquefy on September 19, 1980, two months later a massive earthquake shook southern Italy, killing more than 3,000 people.
On Wednesday, the city’s chief, Crescenio Sepe, told believers not to be overly disappointed. “If something needs to melt it is in people’s hearts,” he said.
Reported by Philip Pullella; Edited by Gareth Jones
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