Wednesday was not a good day for superstitious Neapolitans.
The blood of San Gennaro, the boss of Naples, has failed to liquefy despite two rounds of prayers from the faithful, which some in the southern Italian city see as an omen of bad things to come.
A vial containing the dried blood of the fourth-century martyr is displayed to the public three times a year in the city’s cathedral, and worshipers pray for its liquefaction, known as the “Miracle of San Gennaro”.
This did not happen on Wednesday despite hours of prayer in the morning and a special mass in the afternoon. Fewer people than normal were allowed to enter the cathedral due to coronavirus restrictions.
Scientists say the substance inside the sealed vial appears to be dried blood but cannot explain why it sometimes turns to liquid and sometimes not.
Neapolitans get especially nervous if the blood does not liquefy on the saint’s feast day, September 19, but minus the other two days, the vial is out for public veneration – the Saturday before the first Sunday in May and the December 16.
When the blood did not liquefy on September 19, 1980, a massive earthquake struck southern Italy two months later, killing more than 3,000 people.
The city’s cardinal Crescenzio Sepe on Wednesday told the faithful not to be too dismayed. “If anything has to melt, it’s people’s hearts,” he said.
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