LIQUEFIED BLOOD OF SAINTS

Many unusual bodily phenomena have occurred to various privileged souls throughout the history of the Church. One of the most unusual phenomena is known as liquefaction: the experience whereby a preserved deceased person’s blood loses its hard, crumblike characteristics and miraculously changes back into liquid as fresh as it was when that person was alive.

St. Nazarius of Rome

St. Nazarius of Rome : St. Nazarius of Rome (d. c. [died circa] 68), who was beheaded in Milan for preaching the faith during the persecutions of Emperor Nero. His father was a pagan imperial Roman army officer, his mother Saint Perpetua of Rome. Raised a Christian and taught religion by Saint Peter the Apostle. Friend of and co-worker with Saint Celsus. A legend says that Nazarius was taught by St. Peter during his time in the City of Seven Hills. Their bodies were buried separately in a garden outside the city, where they were discovered and taken up by Saint Ambrose in 395. He had them preserved there in a shrine. 

 In the tomb of Saint Nazarius, whose decapitated body and head were perfectly conserved, a vial of the Saint’s blood was found as fresh and red as if it had been spilt that same day. Saint Ambrose conveyed the bodies of the two martyrs into the new church of the Apostles which he had just built. A woman was delivered of an evil spirit in their presence. Saint Ambrose sent some of these relics to Saint Paulinus of Nola, who received them with great respect as a most valuable gift, as he himself testifies, and placed them in honor at Nola. The feast day of St. Nazarius is July 28.

 St. Januarius

 St. Januarius : St. Januarius (Gennaro) is a patron saint of and former and bishop of Naples in the 4th century. Januarius and his friends were initially sentenced to be eaten by the lions, .tigers, and bears ( Oh my) at the Naples amphitheatre. Although the beasts had been starved for several days before the day of the planned transformation of the Christians into animal crackers, the beasts refused to attack Januarius and his colleagues. The spectators at the amphitheatre were frightened by the indifference of the starving animals to the Christians and rumors began to circulate that the Christians had magical powers and were possibly protected by their god. The governor of Campania ordered their immediate beheading and Januarius' body was later returned to the Cathedral in Naples. 

Over a century later, it was purported that a vial of St. Januarius' blood surfaced and was preserved and permanently fixed in the metal reliquary in the Cathedral of Naples .The cathedral also has another reliquary, a sliver case containing what is believed to be the remains of the saint's head. 

Thousands of people assemble to witness this event in the cathedral of Naples, three times a year: on September 19 (Saint Januarius day) to commemorate his martyrdom), on December 16 (to celebrate his patronage of both Naples and of the archdiocese), and on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May (to commemorate the reunification of his relics).

Reliquary containing the Blood

The reliquary containing the blood (or other substance) which is preserved as a solid mass is placed near the reliquary contain the saint's head, and the "blood"  in the vial liquefies. Sometimes the "blood" liquefies immediately, other times it takes hours.  When the priest takes the vial to the Altar that holds the saint's head, the people, who gather by the thousands, pray that the blood becomes liquid once again. If the miracle takes place, the officiant proclaims, "Il miracolo é fatto!" and waves a white handkerchief. Then a Te Deum is sung and the reliquary is taken to the altar rail so the faithful can kiss the vial/  The priest conducting the service chants "The miracle has happened." The choir and the congregation respond with a Te Deum, and prayers are offered to St. Januarius. here have been a few instances when the substance in the vial had not liquefied and the faithful believes that it is a sign of impending peril. Five times when liquefaction has failed there have been major disasters, the latest being an earthquake in southern Italy that killed 3,000 people in 1980.

There has been a reported parallel "miracle" of the liquefaction of "blood" using substances available in the fourteenth century when the vial was recovered and there has not been any reasonable explanation of the missing century between the saint's death and the discovery of the vial. There are also similar liquefactions of the alleged "blood" of other saints in the Naples areas including  St. John the Baptist, St. Stephen  and St. Pantaleone. These and other concerns have convinced the Vatican not to declare the liquefaction a miracle. After the II Vatican Council, it even considered removing St. Januarius from the liturgical calendar, but popular pressure made it retain the saint's veneration as a local cult.

UPDATES :  March. 24, 2015

Blood of Naples' patron liquefies during Pope Francis' visit to cathedral

Pope Francis kisses a reliquary containing what is believed to be the blood of St. Januarius during a meeting with religious Saturday at the cathedral in Naples, Italy.

At the end of Pope Francis' spontaneity-filled meeting with priests, seminarians and religious in the cathedral of Naples, the vial of dried blood of the city's patron saint appeared to miraculously liquefy.

After Pope Francis blessed the congregation with the reliquary holding the vial, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples announced, "As a sign that St. Januarius loves the pope, who is Neapolitan like us, the blood is already half liquefied."

The thousands of people present in the cathedral applauded, but the pope insisted on taking the microphone. "The bishop said the blood is half liquefied," he said. "It means the saint loves us halfway; we must all convert a bit more, so that he would love us more."

The blood of the fourth-century martyr is Naples' most precious relic. The townspeople gauge the saints' pleasure with them by awaiting the blood's liquefaction three times a year: in the spring during celebrations of the feast of the transfer of the saint's relics to Naples; Sept. 19, his feast day; and Dec. 16, the local feast commemorating the averting of a threatened eruption of Mount Vesuvius through the intervention of the saint.

When Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2007 and the blood did not liquefy, Msgr. Vincenzo de Gregorio, custodian of the relic, told reporters the miracle had never occurred when a pope visited on a day other than the feast day.

Patrizio Polisca, center, Pope Francis' personal physician, looks at what is believed to be the liquefied blood of St. Januarius at the conclusion of Pope Francis' meeting with religious Saturday at the cathedral in Naples, Italy. The reliquary is held by Msgr. Vincenzo de Gregorio, custodian of the relic.

PRAYER TO 

ST JANUARIUS

God our Father,enable us who honour the memory of St Januariusto share with him in the joy of eternal life.Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,who lives and reigns with youin the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, forever and ever.Amen.

__________________________

St. Pantaleon

St. Pantaleon : St. Pantaleon (d. c. 305) of Nicomedia was eventually martyred for his faith. It is reported that ever since he was beheaded under the orders of Emperor Diocletian, his blood has liquefied on his annual feast day of July 27. Pantaleon is called the Wonder Worker in the East and the Great Martyr. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

St. Andrew Avellino

St. Andrew Avellino : Another example of the phenomenon of liquefaction occurred in the preserved blood of St. Andrew Avellino (1521-1608) from Castronuovo, Italy. Andrew was a great missionary to the people of Naples, Italy, where he eventually served as a superior of the Theatines. After his death, his blood, according to many witnesses, was said to liquefy and bubble. However, the local Monsignor Giovanni Pamfihi (who later became Pope Innocent X) refused to believe the claims.

Bernardino Realino

Bernardino Realino (1530-1616) from Capri, Italy, became a Jesuit and later worked in Naples. His reputation for sanctity soon spread throughout the region. Six years before he died. What helped to make St. Bernadino even more famous are the events that followed his death. Six years prior to his death, he fell and sustained two wounds that refused to heal. While he was in his last illness, those closest to him, who had witnessed his holiness, collected the blood discharged from these wounds in several small vials.

This blood acted strangely. In some of the vials, it retained its liquid consistency for over a century. In others it foamed or frothed, particularly on the anniversary of the saint's death. Several witnesses testified to these phenomena during the investigation before his beatification. When his tomb was opened in 1711, some of his fleshy tissue remained incorrupt, floating in a dark red liquid. This too, proved to be human blood, and it gave off a sweet perfume. In 1713 it was also found to be frothing or bubbling, as it was again in 1804 and 1852. In 1985, however, none of the blood preserved showed any of these tendencies. Witnesses over the next two hundred fifty years claimed that Bernardino’s preserved blood remained liquefied and was seen to bubble and boil. 

Saint Patrizia is the other Patron Saint of Naples and her blood, which is kept in the monastery at San Gregorio Armeno, liquefies on 25 August every year (which is her Saint’s day) and often on other occasions too. 

Saint Patrizia was the neice of Constantine the Great and was born in Constantinople in  350 A.D. She was brought up in the Imperial Court and educated as a Christian by a pious woman called Aglaia. From an early age Patrizia vowed to remain a virgin. But her family  had counted on her getting married so Patrizia fled the family home rather than break her vow. 

Worshipers view vials of the blood of Saint Patrizia
at the San Gregorio Armeno monastery

She set sail for Rome with Aglaia where Pope Liberio gave her the veil as Christ’s  Bride. When her father died she returned to Constantinople and she got rid of all her worldly goods, giving away her riches to the poor. She set sail for the Holy Land with Aglaia to go and worship the Holy Grave in Jerusalem. However, during the journey, a violent storm  struck and the ship was forced to take shelter in Naples. The young virgin was offered refuge by the Basilian Monks in their monastery which lay where Castel dell’Ovo stands today. It  was here that, just a few months later, Patrizia was taken ill and died. Her body was placed on  a noble carriage pulled by two oxen. After wandering the streets of Naples the carriage came  to a halt outside the Church of the Saints and Martyrs Nicandro and Marciano, which  the virgin Patrizia had visited not long before her death. After her funeral, she was buried in  the year 365 in the church of the Greek Orthodox Basilian monks. Aglaia and other young  girls did not want to leave the body of their Patron Saint, so the Basilian monks were forced  to leave them the monastery. The Duke of Naples assigned the monks the Church of San Sebastiano instead. The pious women became a closed order of nuns. They observed the rules of Saint Basil, until they decided to conform to the rules of Saint Benedict. Once Patrizia was proclaimed a saint, the church of Saint Nicandro and Marciano (in Vico Armanni) was commonly known as Saint Patrizia’s Church. 

In 1864, when the convent closed down, the nuns moved to the San Gregorio Armeno Monastery, taking with them the sacred blood and remains of their Founder. These sacred remains are still to be found under the main altar there, in a glass urn decorated with silver, gold and precious stones. 

Legend has it that a knight who lay down on the Saint’s tomb was cured of all his ills. He prayed all night and, seized by religious fervour and reluctant to leave the reliquary, he opened the urn and tore one of the Saint’s teeth out. Blood flowed out as if the body was still 

alive. He collected the blood in two phials which are still preserved today.