Today, Naples celebrates San Gennaro, the patron saint, in which everyone goes to see if a vial of blood turns from dried blood into, well, liquid blood.
And as strange as that starter sentence sounded, what will sound even stranger is the fact that now, Naples is going to be spared and given a miracle this year of some-sort. Roman Catholics...you have to wonder.
If you aren't aware of why this man is the patron saint, here's a brief history.
He was a bishop at the time of the persecution of Christians in the 13th century. He had some mates (all Christian) that were in jail, and he thought, "I know, I'll go say hi". Anyway the gaffer of the region - Timoteo (keep reading it gets better) decided to persecute Gennaro.
Timoteo sent them to prison in Nola (my village) and went nuts on them. He had them tortured, beaten, sent to be eaten by lions etc. Gennaro, came out of it unscathed! So this Timoteo fella, he went ultra bezerk and in a last ditch attempt to have Gennaro killed, ended up losing his sight because God (you knew he had to show up at some point) decided to blight him. Gennaro asked God to forgive Timoteo, and low and behold he could see again, and then had Gennaro decapitated! (Grateful and ironic all at the same time!)
So the neapolitans hid the body from the pagans, and kept vessels of his blood. They pull this blood out every September 19th to see if it will turn to liquid, where 8 days of celebrations ensue following on from the miracle.
So there we have it, the history of San Gennaro that you can never, ever forget. And if you want to understand the significance of San Gennaro, here is a clip featuring Troisi and Arena praying for a lottery win!
If you aren't aware of why this man is the patron saint, here's a brief history.
He was a bishop at the time of the persecution of Christians in the 13th century. He had some mates (all Christian) that were in jail, and he thought, "I know, I'll go say hi". Anyway the gaffer of the region - Timoteo (keep reading it gets better) decided to persecute Gennaro.
Timoteo sent them to prison in Nola (my village) and went nuts on them. He had them tortured, beaten, sent to be eaten by lions etc. Gennaro, came out of it unscathed! So this Timoteo fella, he went ultra bezerk and in a last ditch attempt to have Gennaro killed, ended up losing his sight because God (you knew he had to show up at some point) decided to blight him. Gennaro asked God to forgive Timoteo, and low and behold he could see again, and then had Gennaro decapitated! (Grateful and ironic all at the same time!)
So the neapolitans hid the body from the pagans, and kept vessels of his blood. They pull this blood out every September 19th to see if it will turn to liquid, where 8 days of celebrations ensue following on from the miracle.
So there we have it, the history of San Gennaro that you can never, ever forget. And if you want to understand the significance of San Gennaro, here is a clip featuring Troisi and Arena praying for a lottery win!
0 comments → San Gennaro and vessel of blood!
Post a Comment