The blood of Saint Januarius miraculously liquefies three times a year. Here is what makes this miraculous event, which still attracts countless faithful, so special and is awaited with joy and trepidation on every occasion by the people of Naples and all devotees!
The blood of Naples’ patron saint, kept in two small vials in the city’s cathedral, has for centuries been at the heart of a unique and unbreakable bond rooted in the hearts of the Neapolitans.
The traditional ceremony takes place every year on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May, on September 19, and on December 16, and involves the vial containing the Saint’s blood being displayed to the public. If the blood inside appears in liquid form, the miracle is considered complete and is announced by the waving of a white handkerchief from the altar. Conversely, if it does not liquefy during the day, the event is repeated two more times, and if the blood still fails to liquefy on the final attempt, the unfulfilled miracle would be regarded as a negative omen. The last time the miracle did not occur was during the celebrations on December 16, 2020, in the midst of the pandemic.

Who Saint Januarius was

Gennaro was born in the second half of the 3rd century, not in Naples, as everyone thinks, but in Benevento, of which he was bishop and where he carried out his apostolate, loved by the Christian community and respected even by pagans. He knew the deacon Sosso (or Sossius), who led the Christian community of Misenum and was imprisoned by Dragonio, proconsul of Campania. When Gennaro learned of Sosso’s arrest, he decided to visit him in prison and comfort him, together with two companions, Festus and Desiderius. Informed of their presence, Dragonio had all three arrested as well, condemning them to die in the amphitheater, which still exists today, to be torn apart by bears. However, the proconsul noticed that the people were very sympathetic toward the prisoners, so, to avoid possible disturbances during the games, he changed his decision and had the prisoners beheaded on September 19, 305, near the site of the present-day Solfatara of Pozzuoli.
After the beheading, Gennaro’s body was buried in the Agro Marciano: how, then, did the vials containing his blood arrive in Naples, and where is Saint Januarius’s tomb currently located?

The liquefaction of Saint Januarius’s blood

In ancient times, Christians used to collect the blood of those who had been killed in the name of Christ and preserve it in vials. This is what also happened in the story of Saint Januarius: Eusebia, believed to have been his nurse, collected some of the beloved bishop’s blood after his martyrdom in two vials, guarding them with great reverence. When the saint’s bones and skull were transferred from Pozzuoli to the catacombs of Naples by John I, bishop of that city, Eusebia gave the two vials to the prelate. It was at that moment, in the presence of the Saint’s head, that the blood liquefied for the first time.
Of the two vials, the larger is flattened and elliptical in shape, about 60% full of blood, which appears clotted. The smaller cylindrical vial contains only a few reddish-brown stains on its walls. The blood liquefies only in the larger vial.
The stone on which Gennaro’s blood fell, preserved in Pozzuoli, also turns red on the day commemorating his martyrdom.

The miraculous journey of the relics

The veneration of Saint Januarius’s relics began long before his canonization, which took place in 1586. In fact, pilgrimages to the tomb in the Catacombs of Capodimonte had already begun before that date, after his remains were transferred there from the tomb in Agro Marciano in the 5th century. The people of Naples turned to the Saint especially during earthquakes and eruptions of Mount Vesuvius , and their increasingly frequent visits made it necessary to enlarge the catacombs. In 512, on the occasion of an especially violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Bishop Stephen I had a church built on the site (the Cathedral of Naples would later be built over its remains), when the prelate invoked Saint Januarius to protect the citizens. Inside this church, the bishop placed Saint Januarius’s skull and two vials of blood, thus saving them from the looting carried out by the Lombards in 831. The saint’s bones, however, were stolen and taken by Sicone I to Benevento. More than three centuries later, they were transported by William I of Sicily, who therefore decided to move Saint Januarius’s remains to the abbey of Montevergine, near Avellino. In 1497, thanks to the efforts of Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, the bones were returned to Naples and placed in the Cathedral, specifically in the Chapel of the Succorpo, also known as the Carafa Chapel or Chapel of Saint Januarius, beneath the altar. In the meantime, the two vials had been placed in a sumptuous silver bust commissioned by Charles II of Anjou in 1305.

When Saint Januarius’s blood liquefies

According to an ancient document, the blood liquefied for the first time on August 17, 1389: the faithful present testified for the first time that the saint’s blood was fluid, as if it had just flowed from Gennaro’s body. It cannot be ruled out that this had also happened earlier, although there is no documentation of it.
Today the miracle occurs (almost always) three times a year:
– The Saturday before the first Sunday in May, when the transfer of the relics from Pozzuoli to Naples is commemorated with a solemn procession, during which the bust and the reliquary containing the vials are carried through the city. The blood liquefies at the end of the procession.
– September 19 marks the anniversary of the Saint’s martyrdom. The bust and relics are displayed on the main altar of Naples Cathedral, and the archbishop turns over the case containing the vials of clotted blood, renewing the miracle. The liquefied blood is left for the faithful to venerate for eight days, then returned to its place.
– On December 16, the miraculous vials are displayed again in remembrance of the terrible eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1631, when, following a procession bearing the Saint’s insignia, the blood liquefied and the lava flow, which had nearly reached the city, suddenly stopped.

“The blood of Saint Januarius is not an oracle”

Let us conclude with a passage from the homily of the Archbishop of Naples, Monsignor Domenico Battaglia, which helps us understand the true meaning of Saint Januarius’s blood: “This blood is not an oracle to consult, much less a horoscope whose purpose is to predict misfortunes or good fortune for the city. No, the relic we venerate is simply a road sign, a pointed finger pointing to the need, the urgency, the necessity of following the Gospel of Christ radically, allowing ourselves to be drawn without reservation to its liberating beauty, listening with an open heart and mind to its Word of life and hope” (September 19, 2023). For all of us, may the blood of the martyrs be a living sign for the present we have been given, a clear indication for this time we are called to inhabit, a prophecy of how we must live to proclaim the beauty of the Gospel.