the blood of Saint Jenaro this year has not liquefied and Naples fears the worst

Naples trembles. In the 2020 pandemic, the miracle has not been accomplished. Every December 16, the supposed blood of san Jenaro, the patron saint of the city, came out of the safe where it is kept in a chapel of the cathedral to display it to parishioners. Monsignor Vincenzo de Gregorio shook it this Wednesday, hoping that the solid substance that the reliquary keeps will liquefy, as usually happens on this special date. But he was not disturbed. Bad business. That a liquid does not appear is the worst omens for superstitious Neapolitans.

In Italy, they recall with fear some of the misfortunes that occurred when the “miracle” of Saint Jenaro was not performed. For example, in 1939, before World War II; in 1973, the year Naples suffered from a cholera epidemic; or in 1980, the Irpinia earthquake, which killed nearly 3,000 people. The prophecy does not always come true, since the last time it was not liquefied was in 2016, without great tragedy For the city.

On Wednesday, the faithful came to pray for the saint’s mercy, without success.

Social networks were quickly filled with comments interpreting a 2021 negro for the partnership city. Rivers of ink and television reports on the state of blood flowed. There are even those who associate it with the punishment for changing the name of the Napoli stadium from San Paolo to Maradona, an honor after the death of the Argentine star who is also venerated there as a saint.

Three times a year, the faithful attend this very special ceremony: the Saturday before the first Sunday in May, September 19 – feast of the patron saint – and December 16, which commemorates the salvation of Naples after a violent eruption of Vesuvius. in 1631. The volcano threatened to destroy the city and the Neapolitan people carried the relic next to the bust of the saint in procession. Then the lava has stopped surprisingly at the gates of the city.

“San Jenaro is a special saint with over 25 million faithful all over the world, even in Madagascar, ”notes the Neapolitan writer Maurizio Ponticello.

But he is a very special saint: he does not accept votive offerings, but is the protector of the whole city of Naples. Ponticello recalls that this great cult was born from a pact that the nobles and the representatives of the city concluded with the saint in 1527.

“Before a notary and departure an empty chair for Saint JenaroThey promised that if the city was occupied, they would make it the most beautiful chapel in the world. And they did. “It’s the richest on the planet, with gifts from foreign kings and emperors,” he explains. This is why Neapolitans spit out all kinds of explosions when the supposed miracle does not happen. They consider San Jenaro he has not kept his part of the pact.

The first time there is evidence of liquefied blood was 1389. The miracle occurs not only on the three important dates, but can also occur before the visit of an illustrious religious, as happened in an excited Pope Francis in 2015. On the other hand, there was no miracle for Benedict XVI or John Paul II.

There is no explanation

There is no accepted explanation for this phenomenon. In 1988, the Archbishop of Naples asked a scientist from Turin to examine the blood and he led the presence of hemoglobin, which excluded that it was a substance of a different nature from blood. However, in 1991 a group of scientists claimed in the journal Nature that they obtained a similar blood-colored substance from the molisite powder, present in volcanoes and with these same thixotropic properties, that is to say that it liquefies when shaken.

“It has been analyzed by science and science has said it is not scientifically explainable. They found blood, but not only that, but blood with oxygen, which means living blood, as if it were circulating in an organism, ”explains Vaticanist Il Fatto Quotidiano, Francesco Grana.

The journalist points out that December is the time when liquefaction is the most difficult to achieve. “In all major misfortunes such as earthquakes or epidemics, the miracle was not operated in the spring or in September”, he underlines, specifying that the press has amplified the question either because of the pandemic either because on Saturday the new Archbishop of Naples was appointed and the critics do not agree with the choice.

Ponticello is not at all surprised. “2021 will be very difficult, with the pandemic and the economic crisis in the city. The Camorra already benefits from poverty. This is not a good sign, ”he predicts.

The author is a journalist for La Vanguardia

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