September 19th.  St. Januarius [Gennaro].

The patron of Naples, he was bishop of Benevento, mid-way between Naples and the Adriatic, and scene of a great persecution under the Emperor Diocletian in 304/5.  His relics arrived in Naples in the 5th century and are preserved in the Cathedral.  On his feast day there occurs the phenomenon of the liquefying of his blood, preserved in a glass phial.  Sceptics maintain this is an obscure conjuring trick performed with dubious substances, but there is no doubt that the transformation does (usually) take place, and there is a list of dire disasters which may befall Naples if it does not, ranging from the eruption of Vesuvius to the election of a Communist mayor.  The ceremony, presided over by the Archbishop of Naples, is ‘animated’ by the ladies of the Confraternity of St. Gennaro’s Blood, who urge the saint to fulfil requirements by uttering, in Neapolitan dialect, earthy exclamations of a kind which make the contributions of the average Italian football supporter seem totally inadequate.  Enough said.