The long-awaited announcement arrived at 6.38pm on Saturday 4 May. The miracle of San Gennaro was repeated. Archbishop Don Mimmo Battaglia kissed the ampoule with the dissolved blood of the patron saint of Naples and showed it to the faithful present at the Basilica of Santa Chiara, amidst the applause of the crowd.
Don Mimmo Battaglia, around 5.00 pm, after having gone to the Treasury Chapel, welcomed by the abbot prelate, Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio and by the delegation presided over by the mayor of Naples Gaetano Manfredi, had opened the safe which houses the relics of the saint, with the blood that had not yet dissolved.
Then the traditional and solemn procession of the bust of San Gennaro and the vials containing the martyr’s blood began, from the Cathedral to the Basilica of Santa Chiara. The procession takes place in memory of the translation of the saint’s relics from the cemetery located in the Agro Marciano, in the Fuorigrotta area, to the Catacombs of Capodimonte, and was called “degli infrascati” due to the habit of the participating clergy of protecting themselves from the sun by covering their heads with wreaths of flowers. A reminder of this is the silver crown that tops the throne on which the reliquary with the blood of the saint is placed, which bears in the center an enormous emerald, a gift from the city, of Central American origin.
The simulacra of some co-patron saints of the city of Naples were also carried in procession. The procession wound its way along Via Duomo, continuing along Via San Biagio dei Librai, Piazza San Domenico Maggiore and Via Benedetto Croce, up to the Basilica of Santa Chiara. Along the route, the parish priests of the area crossed honored the patron saint with the offering of incense and the ringing of bells. The processional procession is accompanied by the Carabinieri Fanfare.
The arrival at the Basilica of Santa Chiara took place around 6.30 pm, for the start of the Eucharistic celebration presided over by the archbishop, during which prayers were raised for the prodigious liquefaction of the saint’s blood.
