THE MIRACLE OF THE BLOOD OF ST. JANUARIUS – The name of St. Januarius is universally linked with the famous miracle of the liquefaction of his blood, which has recurred annually for centuries under various circumstances. The blood is contained in two glass vials of different sizes and shapes, perfectly sealed and fixed within a circular metal case of about 12 cm in diameter, which is itself closed on both flat sides by thick, colorless glass. The larger vial is helical in shape and holds about 60 cm³; the smaller is cylindrical and holds about 25 cm³. The quantity of blood in the large vial reaches slightly more than half its height, while in the small vial only scattered clots and stains can now be seen along the walls.
a) Some on fixed dates:
- the Saturday before the first Sunday in May (considered by most to mark the first translation of the saint’s relics from the ager Marcianus to the catacombs) and during the eight days following;
- September 19 (anniversary of the martyrdom) and during the eight days of the octave;
- December 16 (a votive feast marking the anniversary of the terrible eruption of Vesuvius in 1631);
b) Others on movable dates:
- visits by illustrious personages;
- public expositions of the case during calamities;
- repairs to the case (cf. the various dates from 1489 to 1913 in Alfano-Amitrano, op. cit. in bibliography, pp. 36–40).
According to common belief, the miracle consists—as has been noted—in the liquefaction of blood that is ordinarily solidified. In reality, however, the event is accompanied by several other repeatedly verified phenomena that exhibit singular characteristics beyond physical laws:
1) The substance in the vials does not have a constant melting point, thus defying the fundamental physical law that every substance or mixture has a fixed melting point under a given pressure. Instead, the substance liquefies at widely varying temperatures. For example, N. Fergola (op. cit. in bibliography, p. 51) records that in May 1795, on the first day the liquefaction occurred at 24.4°C, on the fourth day at 26.4°C, on the fifth at 23.8°C, on the seventh at 25°C, and on the ninth at 19.4°C. P. Punzo (op. cit. in bibliography, p. 10) reports observations made in September 1879 by Professors De Luca and Gori: on the first day the melting temperature was 30°C, on the third 27°C, and on the seventh 25°C. From this it must be concluded that the substance in the vials melts at very different temperatures even within the same environment, and at different times unrelated to temperature.
2) The time required for liquefaction also varies: sometimes it occurs after only a brief wait; at other times, even at the same temperature, it takes hours; on other occasions, when the case is removed from the tabernacle, the substance is already liquid. For instance, during a ceremony on January 1, 1662, the substance liquefied as soon as the case was placed on the altar, whereas before Philip V on April 18, 1702, the wait lasted nearly three hours. In May 1678, on the first and third days the wait was short, but on the second it lasted ten hours.
3) During different liquefactions, the volume of the substance in the vials changes—“not just slightly, but visibly doubling in size as it fills the vial from half its capacity to full during the time it is exposed to public veneration, most notably in May, and diminishing by the same amount in September; yet in varying proportions, without a fixed rule” (P. Silva, op. cit. in bibliography, p. 30). This is clearly observable due to the perfect fluidity of the liquid, even through the thin film that clings to the glass walls during movement. The phenomenon cannot be attributed to the coefficient of cubic expansion at different temperatures, since these are far too small to account for an increase in volume that sometimes nearly doubles, with the liquid level rising by about 3 cm.
4) When liquefied, the substance also changes in mass and therefore in weight. Professor G. Sperindeo (op. cit. in bibliography, p. 60), after conducting meticulous experiments, found that the case with the full vial weighed 1.015 kg, while with the vial half-empty it weighed 0.987 kg (cf. also P. Silva, op. cit. in bibliography, p. 32).
As to whether the substance in the vials is truly blood, experiments conducted by G. Sperindeo on September 26, 1902, and repeated by Professor R. Januario and Father P. Silva in 1904, provide an answer. When the substance was subjected to spectroscopic analysis, the characteristic dark band of blood appeared repeatedly in the spectrum after the D-line (Fraunhofer), followed by another in the green region, with a bright zone between them.
Naturally, much debate and controversy have arisen around the miracle, with various hypotheses proposed to explain how the blood could become liquid through natural or artificial causes, or to argue that the substance in the vials is not pure blood but some mixture resulting from conscious or unconscious fraud. Yet none of these attempts has succeeded in providing a sufficient explanation for the peculiar characteristics of the liquefaction described above, nor have repeated efforts to reproduce the phenomenon yielded any result (v. Alfano-Amitrano, op. cit. in bibliography, pp. 92–119; P. Silva, op. cit. in bibliography, pp. 36–51). To supplement the discussion, it should be noted that even some Catholic scholars have recently advanced more refined hypotheses: possible phototropic, hygroscopic, or psychic effects due to the relic’s transition from darkness to the full light of the church; the influence of water vapor from the large crowds; the heat generated by them; a residual vital fluid from the person to whom the blood belonged; the intense, unified will of those present; and even the fact that in the ancient Kingdom of Naples other blood relics exhibit the same miracle. Yet even these hypotheses, which are not entirely new, fail to offer a sufficient natural explanation and indeed conflict with numerous attested and documented circumstances (cf. Alfano-Amitrano, in *Scuola Cattolica*, op. cit. in bibliography, pp. 174 ff.).
The question remains whether the blood contained in the phials is truly that of St J. (H. Delehaye, *Hagiographie napolitaine*, in *Anal. Boll.*, 59 [1941], p. 12). At the present state of research, disregarding the dubious testimonies of Lupo de Speis and the Carthusian monk Maraldo, which would take us back to dates long before, the oldest and most reliable written tradition dates back to 1329, a year in which a chronicle of uncertain authorship states: «On the following day, 17 August (1389), a great procession was held because of the miracle... of the blood of the blessed Januarius, which was in the phial and was then liquefied, as if it had just issued from the body of the blessed Januarius» (G. de Blasiis, *Chronicon Siculum incerti auctoris ab a. 1340 ad a. 1396* [Naples 1887], p. 85). This document is all the more important in that it reports a miracle that occurred outside the fixed dates, without the expectation or suggestion of crowds, or any habitual festivity, but because Naples had enjoyed a little peace after many years of war and grain had arrived after many months of famine (G. B. Alfano, in *L'osservatore romano*, V. BIBLICA., p. 3, col. 5a). Enea Silvio Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II, who went to Naples as an ambassador in 1456, notes: «And if anyone should ask to hear about that sacred blood of the divine Januarius, which they show now congealed, now liquefied, although it was shed twelve hundred years ago for the name of Christ» (*Aeneae Ep. Senensis, In libros A. Panormitae poetae: de dictis et factis Alphonsi regis memorabilibus commentarius*, Basel 1538, bk. II, pp. 288-89). As can be seen, Piccolomini speaks of the prodigy as a customary fact and demonstrates that the substance contained in the phials has always been regarded as the blood of St J.
The reliable historical accounts of the prodigy do not go back beyond the 13th century. For the earlier centuries, tradition links it to the second half of the 4th century, when the relics of the Saint were transferred from the Marcian countryside to the present-day catacombs. At that time, as the solemn procession passed along the Via Antiniana, a certain Eusebia is said to have approached the bishop and handed him the two phials containing the blood of the martyr, which she herself had collected. On that occasion the blood is said to have become liquid. A simple tradition, but one supported by the existence of two very ancient churches on the hill of Antignano in Naples, S. Gennarello al Venero and S. Gennaro ad Antignano.
Finally, the fact that there are no accounts of the prodigy prior to the 14th century, as has been noted, does not detract from or invalidate the authenticity of the liquefaction prodigy, both because in the centuries before the 13th the head and phials of the blood of St J. were kept in the “confession” of the central nave of the basilica of Stefania, and because otherwise the issue would be shifted from the physical fact to the historical one, which would not resolve the question of the prodigy.
Celestino Testore
FOLKLORE. — The Saint, co-patron of the city of Naples along with many others, enjoys in that city an ancient, lively and widespread popular cult, which gives rise to characteristic manifestations. In connection with one of the most significant episodes of his legend, the martyrdom in the flames of the furnace from which the Saint emerged unscathed, he is invoked as protector against the dangers of fire, and especially against the eruptions of Vesuvius; consequently also against earthquakes and other calamities, such as plague, cholera, drought, etc., that may afflict the entire population. His thaumaturgical powers are thus, in the conception of his devotees, extended to the whole sphere of human life. Hence also the great importance attached to the miracle of St J. as a sure sign of protection for the good outcome of the year and for the granting of graces requested by individual faithful.
In the ceremony that takes place in May, the relics of the blood, kept in the phial, and of the head, enclosed in a silver bust with a face of pale gold, are carried in a double procession from the Cathedral to the church of S. Chiara, where the miracle occurs. The procession was called “of the garlanded ones” because of the use of garlands of roses and other flowers; in it, besides the relics of the Saint, statues or busts of