The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-06-11
THE BLOOD OF ST. JANUARIUs.
The Miracle of Naples-IVaitfug for Gem
narO's Bio ld to LIquefy.

AaEU > DO 4e TO l4lqueHTs
San Gennaro (St. Januariusl is held
/ to be the guardian saint of Naples
The alleged miracle by which the blood
| OF this holy person Contained in {
closed phial or glass tube) changes from
a solid to liquid state, is we'll known.
Admitted by special favor, with five OF
SIX others, into the sanctuary of the ca.
thedral, and seated within few feet OF
the officiating priest, had an excel.
lent opportunity to observe the ceremo
ny and its effect upon the assembled
thousands who came to await the result,
In the front rank of the audience,
some ten feet from US, were seated
twenty or thirty women. some very old.
the reputed descendants of the saint.
At their head, and evidently chief Of
this favored corps, was a tall, nnascu-
line woman. of middle age-a very Meg
Merrllies in appearance flashing
eye and the bold port of a popular
ringIeader. Like most matrons in the
rank of small but well-to-do Neapolitau
shopkeepers, her fingers we're well Gov
cred with massive silver rings, and he1
neck was adorned with a heavy chain
and other ornaments of the same metal.
This Amazon seemed, for the nonce, to
have assumed the lead in the devotional
exercises of her neighbors.
These, when the priest first held up
the sacred phial with its clotted con
tents, were quiet and reverential ut
tered in low tones, but audible where
we sat, &c Holy Gennarol Save, protect
rs ! Bless the city of Naples and keep
it from plaques and earthquakes and all
other ills. Do this miracle, so we may
see that thy power and thy favor are
still with us. Blessed San Gennaro,
pray for us, and so on.
After each installment of prayer there
was an interval of some ten minutes ;
then the supplications recommended,
patiently enough for an hour or more,
during which the still refractory blood
was, from time to time, displayed.
Then, gradually, the tone become quer-
ulous, and supplication changed to re-
nonstrance. How long, o holy man
of God how long Art thou resolved
to weary out our patience? Come
quickly Hasten to show thy power -
then usually dropping back into the re-
frain, Blessed San Gennaro, pray for
US |"
When nearly two hours had elapsed,
the patience of this Amazoniau leader
evidently failed. It was a sultry day
toward the end of May, the crowd was
densely packed, and saw drops of per-
spiratiOn standing on her swarthy fore
head.
"San Gennaro," she exclaimed, are
You going to keep us here, sweating in
this accursed crowd, all day long E?
Who's to attend to that little shop of
mine, I wonder, while I'm gone? Do
You want it to be entered and robbed !?
You know I can't afford to be away from
it all this time" Then, as if the thought
crossed her that she had gone little too
far, Blessed saint Holy Gennaro
Pray for us.
Half an hour more elapsed, and still,
as the venerated relic was held oD high
before the congregation, the obdurate
blood remained unliquefed At the
sight, our dame of the silver chain and
rings, unable longer to stand such
treatment from her canonized ancestor.
broke forth. Pointing her long, lank
finger at the silver gilt burt of the
saint (Which had been brought from his
chapel and set on pedestal near us),
q" FIdccdG jqiGLlG :" she cried " Yellow
facet You It's past all bearing. Have
you no mercy? Hurry up Be about
it Come, set that blood allowing in
Gods name, at once and let us depart
in peace -
Her face all afame and the nervous
agitation of her whole person, as she
rose to her feet and tossed her arms ex-
citedly, attested the vehement reality of
her emotion. Had 1 been inclined to
laugh, which I was not, I think any
such exhibition of levity might have en-
daugered my life, at the hands of that
eXasperated multitude.
1t was some ten minutes after this OBJ
jurgation that the priest, stepping to the
front-this time witha complacent smile
lighting mp his face-showed themiEacle
wrought, and the blood flowing freely
in the tube.
Then there went up from the assem-
bled thousands such wild shout of ex-
ultatiOn as one hears only in southern
chimes and there only when fear and
expectation, wound up to highest pitch
and endured for hours, burst forth in
triumphant congratulations at last.
While all this was passing, the priest
who officiated had very politely brought
to us, for examination, the vessel con
tanning the blood affording us salts
factory evidence that it was at first CO.
aguIated and that it had liquefed at
the ciose.-f2obert Dale OWen's Rem
iniScences Of Naples.