On September 19, the city of Naples once again celebrated the miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of San Gennaro, patron saint of the city. According to an announcement by the abbot Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio, custodian of the Chapel of the Treasury in the cathedral, the relic was found “completely liquid,” a sign he interpreted as an invitation to place full trust in God.
The proclamation of the miracle was accompanied, as tradition dictates, by the waving of a white handkerchief by a member of the Deputation of the Treasury of San Gennaro.
Cardinal Domenico Battaglia, Archbishop of Naples, presided over the Holy Mass in the cathedral and showed the faithful the reliquary containing the blood of the martyr from the main altar, before descending among the attendees as the liturgical chants accompanied the rite.
A sign of faith in times of war and suffering
Visibly moved, Cardinal Battaglia dedicated his homily to reflecting on current wars, especially the tragedy in Gaza. “It is the blood of every child in Gaza that is exposed today in this cathedral,” he stated.
During the celebration, a video message was broadcast from Father Gabriel Romanelli, parish priest of the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza, who thanked the archbishop and the Neapolitan people for their spiritual and material support amid the conflict.
“The miracle of San Gennaro turns the city into a great cathedral: the streets are naves, the balconies are choirs, and at the center there is no object, but a sign: a blood, a name—Gennaro. Here we do not celebrate a trophy, but the living memory of a martyr whom Love did not abandon,” the cardinal emphasized.
“A voice that still preaches”
Quoting the Gospel of Saint Mark—“Whoever loses his life for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel will save it”—the cardinal recalled that the witness of San Gennaro is not a slogan, but a bridge to eternity: “He did not choose to save himself, he chose to give himself. And the blood, which the violent believed would be a seal of oblivion, became a voice: a voice that still preaches.”
The archbishop invited the faithful to contemplate the miracle not with superstition, but as a sign of faith and trust in God: “It is a call to bet everything on confident abandonment to the Gospel, beyond any human calculation or prudence.”
San Gennaro, martyr and protector of Naples
San Gennaro, Bishop of Benevento, was martyred around the year 305 during the Roman persecutions. His blood is preserved in two ampoules in the Chapel of the Treasury of the Neapolitan cathedral.
The miracle of liquefaction traditionally occurs three times a year: on September 19, the saint’s liturgical feast; on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May, anniversary of the translation of his remains; and on December 16, commemoration of the eruption of Vesuvius in 1631, when the saint’s intercession saved the city.
For Neapolitans, the liquefied blood of their patron is not an amulet, but a testimony of God’s closeness through the life and intercession of a martyr.