THE BLOOD OF ST. JANUARIUS
[.4 reader asked if the SPECTATOR would send a representative 0 the festa of St. Januarius at Naples and offered to pay his expenses. We consented, stipulating that the writer must be fret to say what he liked. This article is the result.] WITHIN a few inches Of the monstrance in which thi blood Of St. Januarius. was being displayed to the adoring and expectant populace of Naples, I had as good an opportunity as anyone has ever had of observing Whit. actually happens during the progress of the famous• "miracle." There are twenty thousand spectators, but ten at most can really see what is going on, so I consider myself lucky to have had so close a view of one of the strangest spectacles in Christendom. Let. me say at the outset that I believe the blood liquefies owing to natural causes—the heat caused by the press of peOple in the Duomo at Naples—and that this is the obvious and reasonable explanation. None the less the blood of the saint changes in colour and consistency with remark- able suddenness ; it has not the appearance of gradually melting, like sealing-wax, for instance. There is, on the contrary, but an instant of transition between the crusted age of a relic, and the viability of living blood. Kneeling at the foot of the altar, I was able to see in the monstrance a small piece of straw which somehow in that remote day when the relic was "laid down" became mixed with the blood in the larger of the two phials. I watched this carefully and for a good half-hour it remained firmly congealed ; then in a moment it moved With the sanguine solution which .I undoubtedly saw flowing down both phials when the monstrance was brought to my lips to kiss. I could . not have witnessed the miracle more intimately had I been one of the canons of the cathedral, or Monsignore himself, who held the• relies aloft in his trembling hands, while his old eyes awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit ; what I report,. therefore, are choseS Nies.
To begin at the beginning. St. Januarius was one of the early Christian bishops, persecuted by Diocletian and Maximian in the third century. The Governor of Campania of that day subjected him to various unpleasant ordeals, such as the fiery furnace and a cage of wild beasts, through which the saint came scatheless. Finally his head was cut off, which made a physical end Of him, but a Spiritual beginning, for his body was brought to Naples, of which city he became the patron saint. Since earliest times he has been believed to counteract the activities of Vesuvius, and from the fifth century to the Present there are records of his cult here. Half the male babies of Naples are named Genuaro in his honour to-day.
It is only since the sixteenth century, however, that we have records of the recurrent miracle which demonstrates the continued interest and benevolence of San Genuaro. lie is a very human saint, close to the hearts of the people. When the British occupied Naples in the middle of last century and threatened to shell it, the sacred blood liquefied and averted a disaster; again, only a few months ago, when H.R.H. the Crown Prince of Italy visited the City, the miracle of San Genuaro was again accomplished, out of its season, as a superabundant sign of the saint's approval.
Only hagiologists need concern themselves with the possibility Of the movement of the relics of the martyrs under certain conditions:. for me, the miracle is simply explained, and I cannot see anything supernatural about it, although there is a very great deal of interest in the setting in which it happens. The quality of faith Is present ; that is the dominant impression of the festa ; faith such as is rarely seen in this day and age. All Naples believes in San:Genuaro. A vast crowd assembles to see his yearly miracle.: when. it occurs there is a braying of bands, a tumult, a torrent of hand-clapping and cries, such as are not heard at any other religious ceremony. Civic guards are there in brass helmets, plumed policemen, cockaded carabinieri, all the panoply Of the State assists the dignitaries of the Church. This is the greateSt festival of Southern Italy, and as I write on the evening of the day of the festa, fireworks and mortaretti are making night hideous on the goigeous bay: An introduction to the Cardinal Archbishop of Naples, Cardinal Ascalesi, enabled me to obtain access, in company with a few friends of the cathedral authorities, to a position directly under the altar. Else it would have been Impossible 10 do more than mark the psychology of the crowd.
After what was nearly a free fight in the vestry, we chosen spectators found ourselves carried on a surge of surpliced and tonsured pilgrims to the altar. Behind us was a huge throng, in its Sunday best, laughing and joking, irreverent, superstitious, intensely devout. Before us, under the big Virgin, haloed in electric light, stood four priests and a man in full evening dress. Save Monsignore, who held the monstrance, they were not high dignitaries of the Church. But this was the day of days for them ; the fruition of their year's ministry to San Genuaro. Monsignore was very old. And he shook so that he could hardly stand, at the mystery which through him would pass to the blood he held, and thence to all Naples.
A strident choir of girls sang Kyrie elei son. The Monsignore put Up his hand we prayed to all the saints : Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis. ' Then the choir, prayer, choir, prayer. The heat was stifling. '
• The holy blood was in two phials, one like a test tube, the other a small flat flask, but both of ancient flawed glass of a greenish tinge. The phiali were cemented into 'a small circular monstrance of brass, with glass at front and back : this monstrance was held by Monsignore at his breast during prayer and before his eyes during the singing in the Cathedral. The warmth of the priest's hands could hardly affect the blood, for the monstrance was provided with a handle at one end and a crown at• the other, and I particularly noticed that when turning it (which he frequently did) or when exhibiting it to the congregation, Monsignore always held the reliquary by the crown or the handle. Besides, the blood was behind two thicknesses of glass. The other priests took no part in the ceremony, beyond sometimes holding a candle behind the monstrance to see if liquefaction was taking place. There was no possibility of trickery.
It seemed an hour that we waited and prayed in the intense heat—in reality it was half that time. Suddenly Monsignore's parchment complexion grew pinlband young, and his eyes glowed. I have never seen a more remarkable change in an old man's face. The eyes of the other priests took on the look that I have seen men from the trenches wear. It was very wonderful to see their expres- sive Neapolitan faces light up, with no word said, their souls in ecstasy . . . Then " E fano ! E fatto ! "
Instantly the Cathedral was in an uproar. A brass band crashed. Above it rang the plaudits of the people. Women fainted, men yelled. San Genuaro had come.
I lingered, unconvinced. Throwing myself on my knees, I waited until- the monstrance came right by me. And there was no doubt. The blood was viscous, moving slowly as the monstrance turned, and carrying with it that little piece of straw.
F. YEATS-BROWN.
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