LIQUEFACTION OF THE BLOOD OF ST. JANUARIUS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 47, 22 November 1900, Page 10

LIQUEFACTION OF THE BLOOD OF ST. JANUARIUS.

Titc miraculous liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius, preserved in the Naples Cathedral, took place on September 19, after a very brief delay, while the guns from Fort St. Elmo announced the happy event to the population, The Neapolitan consider a rapid liquefaction of the blood as a very gool omen, and fear nothing so much as a failure of tho miracle to take place, as that would indicate iue approach oi due ccUdinmes. it, h a face mat the great, cholera epidemic of 18S."» ami several disastrous earthquakes were foretold in this manner.

The following particulars concerning this miraculous event will be of interest to our readers: — 'St. Januarius, or San Gennaro as the Italians call him, is the patron saint as well as the most popular hero of Naples. He was Bishop of Benevento about the end of the third century. At the outbreak of the persecution under Diocletian and Maximian he was taken to Nola, on account of his profession of the Christian religion. After he had withstood various assaults on his constancy he was sentenced to be cast into a fiery furnace, through which he passed unharmed. On the following day, along with a number of fellow-martyrs, he was exposed to the fury of wild beasts, which, however, contrary to their nature, laid themselves down in tame submission at his feet. Timotheus, the Governor of Campania, then proceeding to pronounce sentence of death, was struck with blindness, but immediately cured by the interoession of the saint, a miracle which converted nearly five thousand pagans on the spot. But the ungrateful Judge, only roused to fury by these occurrences, caused the execution of Januarius by the sword to be immediately carried out. The body was ultimately removed by the inhabitants of Naples to that city, where his relics becames famous i'or miracles, especially in counteracting the more dangerous eruptions of Mount Vesuvius. Ilis clotted blood, preserved in a glass phi<il, even to this day is wont to liquefy and bubble up as if but recently shed, whenever it comes within sight of the martyr's head. The recurrence of this miracle is observed by believing Neapolitans on each occasion with various festivities extending over a week. ' The Cathedral of Naples, which is dedicated to St Januariua, is a basilica with Gothic vaulting. Adjoining it on the left, and entered from it by a door on the left aisle, is the Church or Chapel of Santa Restituta, also a basilica, with pointed arches, occupying the site of a temple of Apollo, to which it is probably indebted for the ancient Corinthian columns of the nave. This was the Cathedral of Naples prior to the erection of the larger church, which was begun in 1272 by Charles I. of Anjou, on the site of a temple of Neptune, and was completed by Robert, grandson of the founder in 1.H4. In 1"> t(5 it was nearly destroyed by an earthquake, but was rebuilt by Alphonsus I. It is a Freuch Gothic building, but has undergone many an hitecturil changes. It is a handsome and impo«iny edifice, though by no means to be ranked among the great Cathedrals of Europe. The foundation of the Church of Santa Restituta, erroneously attributed to Constantine the Great, dates from the Feventh century. Confining ourselves strictly to those features of the Cathedral which more directly refer to the Saint, whose tomb is in the crypt under the high altar, though originally interred on the site of what is now the Church of San Gennaro, near the catacombs of the city, we pass at once from this Chapel of Santa It«stituta to the crowning architectural glory of the main buildinsr, or cathedral proper, the third chapel in the south aisle, specially dedicated to St. Januarius and commonly known as the Capella del Tesoro, adorned with magnificent large brazen doors.

• Trie chapel, though its erection was vowed during the plague of 1 V_'7, was nut built until l(>os-,57, at a coat of about £223,000, so it-- mjigiiilii'ouce can be approximately imagined. The interior, which it in the form of a Greek oross, is richly decorated with gold and contain* eiirtit altars, 42 columns ot brocatello, magnificent dour^. due oil piintings on copper by Uomenenchino, and several frescoes from the lite of St. Januarius. The first four representations alone, however — those of the tomb of the Saint, his martyrdom, rcsincitation of a youth and sick persona healed by the oil of the lamp which had hung before the tomb — are entirely by Duniencnchino, who along with Guido Reni and Lanfranco, intimidated by the threats of their jealous Neapolitan rivals, Spaijnoletto and Correnzio, abandoned the task of painting the dome The sacristy of the Tesoro contains pictures by Stanzioni and Luca Giordano, a costly collection of ecclesiastical vestments and sacred vessels, the silver bust of St. .1 muarms, which encloses hia head and which was executed for Charits 11 in l!K)i"> . 4,"> other busts in silver of the patron saints of the city and other valuable relics. In the tabernacle of the high altar of this same chapel, which is adorned with a carefully -covered relief in silver representing the arrival of the Saint's remains are preserved two vessels containing the blood of St. Januarius. The liquefaction of the blood, which, according to traditions, took place for the first time when the body was brought to Naples by Bishop St. Severus in the time of Constantine, is the occasion of the greatest festival in Naples, celebrated with fireworks, illuminations, salvos of artillery and the decoration of the ships in the harbor, etc., and takes place thr^e times annually during several successive days, to wit : On the first Saturday in May in the evening, on the 19th of September, the feast of the Saint, and on the Kith of December, on the two last named dates between the hours of nine and ten in the morning. According as the liquefation is rapid or slow, it is considered a good or evil omen for the ensuing year.'