In the heart of downtown Naples, visitors trickled in early Monday morning on the streets of Via Duomo to experience the annual legendary blood miracle of patron Saint Januarius. Within a few hours, hundreds of locals and tourists gathered at the Naples cathedral of Chiesa Cattedrale di Napoli also known as the Duomo di Napoli to witness the miracle of Saint Januarius or San Gennaro in Italian during La Festa di San Gennaro, Sept. 19.

The religious event, celebrated every year on Sept. 19, is also a public holiday in Naples. According to Neopolitan legend, San Gennaro was believed to have been martyred during the Christian persecution of Emperor Diocletian in the third century. The legend also says that when bishop Severus moved San Gennaro’s body remains from Agro Marciano to Naples, he encountered a pious woman named Eusebia who took two ampoules of San Gennaro’s blood.