When is the Feast of San Gennaro?
Italy may celebrate All Saints' Day on November 1st each year, but that doesn't stop many cities observing another public holiday to celebrate their patron saint.
Naples is no exception and on September 19th each year, this vibrant southern Italian city at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, honours one of its principal patron saints, San Gennaro.
History of the Feast of San Gennaro
San Gennaro, or St. Januarius was the bishop of Benevento and then Naples in the 4th century.
Gennaro helped Christians escape from persecution during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. While visiting an imprisoned Christian, he was arrested by the Romans. According to legend, he survived being thrown into a fiery furnace and then a den of wild beasts who refused to eat him, but he was eventually beheaded.
After his death, Gennaro's body was brought to Naples, along with a vial containing some of his blood. Housed in the Cathedral of San Gennaro, the normally congealed blood is said to miraculously turn back to liquid on the anniversary of his death each year - an event that has drawn crowds to Naples since the liquid first started its annual melting in 1389.
Did you know?
The city of Naples has more than fifty official patron saints.
With so many Italians having emigrated to America from Naples, you'll find a large celebration for San Gennaro taking place in New York's Little Italy neighbourhood.
A procession carries a statue of St. Januarius from the shrine at Most Precious Blood Church with thousands of onlookers in attendance.
