Three times each year the faithful of Naples pray for “the Miracle of the Blood” on the first Sunday in May, on Sept. 19 when they celebrate their patron saint San Gennaro and again on Dec. 16 which is the anniversary of the 1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

During these sacred events prayers are offered for the blood in San Gennaro’s reliquary to liquify from its solid state to fulfill the belief that this will protect them from adverse events. San Gennaro (Italian for Janarius) was born around 272 A.D., near Benevento.