The Feast of San Gennaro (in Italian: Festa di San Gennaro), also known as San Gennaro Festival, is a Neapolitan and Italian-American patronal festival dedicated to Saint Januarius, patron saint of Naples and Little Italy, New York. [1]
His feast is celebrated on 19 September in the calendar of the Catholic Church. [a] [3] [4]
In the United States, the "Festa of San Gennaro" is also a highlight of the year for New York's Little Italy, with the saint's polychrome statue carried through the middle of a street fair stretching for blocks.
On 19 September 305, Gennaro (Latin : Ianuarius), bishop of Benevento, was beheaded in Pozzuoli during the persecution of Christians by Diocletian. [c] According to the legend,
The blood gushed due to the decapitation was collected and kept in an ampoule by Eusebia, who had been his wet nurse. [6] In 313, [8] the martyr's body was being moved to Naples, and the procession stopped to rest in what would be today's piazza Bernini, in the area known as Vomero. Eusebia put the vials containing the martyr's blood near his head, and the blood started to melt, at the presence of the local bishop. [6]
San Gennaro was named patron and protector of the city, and is invoked by the people of Naples on several occasions, e.g. to ask for help, healing and special favors; memorably, he was called on to stop the 1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and the lava – that was about to destroy the towns around it – slowed down. [6] Meanwhile, with very few exceptions, [d] the blood miracle happens again and again, three times a year:
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In Naples and neighboring areas, an annual celebration and feast of faith is held over the course of three days, commemorating Saint Gennaro. Throughout the festival, parades, religious processions and musical entertainment are featured. [9] [10]
The focus of the celebration is the miracle of San Gennaro's blood melting, also simply known as the miracle of San Gennaro, or blood miracle.
The festival was first celebrated in the United States in September 1926, when immigrants from Naples congregated along Mulberry Street in the Little Italy section of Manhattan in New York City to continue the tradition they had followed in Italy to celebrate Saint Januarius, the Patron Saint of Naples.
The immigrant families on Mulberry Street who started the feast, a group of cafe owners, erected a small chapel in the street to house the image of their patron Saint. They invited all to partake of their wares, asking the devoted to pin an offering to the ribbon streamers that are hung from the statue's apron. This money was then distributed to the needy poor of the neighborhood. Originally a one-day religious commemoration, over time, the festival expanded into an 11-day street fair organized and run by people outside the neighborhood. It is now an annual celebration of food and drink, and a major tourist attraction.
Centered on Mulberry Street, which is closed to traffic for the occasion, the festival generally features sausages, zeppole , street vendors, games, parades and other such attractions. The Grand Procession is held starting at 2 p.m. on the last Saturday of the feast, immediately after a celebratory Mass at the Church of the Most Precious Blood. This is a Roman Catholic candlelit procession in which the statue of San Gennaro is carried from its permanent home in the Most Precious Blood Church through the streets of Little Italy.
Another festival is held with the same attractions in New York City's other Little Italy, in the Fordham/Belmont community in the Bronx. The streets are closed to traffic, and the festivities begin early in the morning and proceed late into the night.
In 1995, following the exposure of financial improprieties and mafia involvement, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani declared that if the city's San Gennaro festival did not remove corrupt elements, he would shut it down. [11] After Giuliani's ultimatum, a community group was formed to manage the festival; the municipal government asked it to hire a professional manager, and it hired Mort Berkowitz to be the financial manager. [12]
Similar festivals have also been sponsored in other cities.
In 1980, Vincent Jimmy Palmisano brought the Feast of San Gennaro to the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, for the first time. The event was hosted and entertained by Tony Sacca from 1986 to 2016, along with celebrities from the strip such as Pat Cooper, Ernest Borgnine, Jerry Vale, Liberace, Frankie Avalon. The Las Vegas festival is now held twice a year, in the Spring and Fall. [13] This bi-annual festival features traditional Italian cuisine, amusement rides and games, and entertainers such as Emilio Baglioni, Chazz Palminteri, Tommy DeVito from the Jersey Boys and Louis Prima's daughter, Lena Prima.
In 2002, Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, and Doug DeLuca founded the Feast of San Gennaro Los Angeles, which is now a major annual event held every September in Hollywood.
In 2011, Hampton Bays (Long Island, New York) started their San Gennaro celebration. It has since grown rapidly to become the largest San Gennaro Feast on Long Island, and second only to the Little Italy Feast in New York State. The Hampton Bays Feast of San Gennaro draws a huge crowd, with live bands, raffles and prizes, and vendors selling food and drink. [e]
In 2012, the Feast of San Gennaro of the Jersey Shore was established in Belmar, New Jersey, by Daniel Di Cesare, whose goal was to highlight the positive contributions of Italian Americans. [14]
In 2013, the San Gennaro Festival was brought to Seattle, WA, by the Mascio family, who formed the San Gennaro Foundation Seattle. Held the second week of September, it includes the procession of the San Gennaro statue, live music and food. This three day festival is held in the heart of Georgetown, WA, where many of Seattle's Italian community settled when they first arrived in Seattle.
Nolita, sometimes written as NoLIta and deriving from "Northern Little Italy", is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Nolita is situated in Lower Manhattan, bounded on the north by Houston Street, on the east by the Bowery, on the south roughly by Broome Street, and on the west by Lafayette Street. It lies east of SoHo, south of NoHo, west of the Lower East Side, and north of Little Italy and Chinatown.
Little Italy is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, known for its former Italian population. It is bounded on the west by Tribeca and Soho, on the south by Chinatown, on the east by the Bowery and Lower East Side, and on the north by Nolita.
A patronal feast or patronal festival is a yearly celebration dedicated – in countries influenced by Christianity – to the 'heavenly advocate' or 'patron' of the location holding the festival, who is a saint or virgin. The day of this celebration is called patronal feast day, patronal day or patron day of said location.
Public holidays in Italy are established by the Italian parliament and, with the exception of city or community patronal days, apply nationwide. These include a mix of national, religious and local observances. As for Whit Monday, there is an exception for South Tyrol. In Italy there are also State commemoration days, which are not public holidays.
Januarius, also known as Januarius I of Benevento, was Bishop of Benevento and is a martyr and saint of the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Armenian Apostolic Church. While no contemporary sources on his life are preserved, later sources and legends claim that he died during the Great Persecution, which ended with Diocletian's retirement in 305.
Pozzuoli is a city and comune (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula.
Mulberry Street is a principal thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. It is historically associated with Italian-American culture and history, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the heart of Manhattan's Little Italy.
Saint Proculus (Proclus) of Pozzuoli was martyred around 305 AD, according to Christian tradition, at the same time as Saint Januarius.
Naples Cathedral, or the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, is a Roman Catholic cathedral, the main church of Naples, southern Italy, and the seat of the Archbishop of Naples. It is widely known as the Cathedral of Saint Januarius, in honour of the city's patron saint.
The Catacombs of San Gennaro are underground paleo-Christian burial and worship sites in Naples, Italy, carved out of tuff, a porous stone. They are situated in the northern part of the city, on the slope leading up to Capodimonte, consisting of two levels, San Gennaro Superiore, and San Gennaro Inferiore. The catacombs lie under the Rione Sanità neighborhood of Naples, sometimes called the "Valley of the Dead". The site is now easily identified by the large church of Madre del Buon Consiglio.
The Church of the Most Precious Blood is a Roman Catholic parish located in New York City. The parish is under the authority of the Archdiocese of New York, and is the National Shrine Church of San Gennaro. Located at 113 Baxter Street with an additional entrance on Mulberry Street, the Church of the Most Precious Blood is part of Manhattan's Little Italy neighborhood. The Most Precious Blood parished merged with Old St. Patrick's Cathedral parish, and the two churches share priests and administrative staff.
Little Italy, Connellsville is an area on the west side of Connellsville, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
Saint Sossius or Sosius was Deacon of Misenum, an important naval base of the Roman Empire in the Bay of Naples. He was martyred along with Saint Januarius at Pozzuoli during the Diocletian Persecutions. His feast day is September 23, the date, three days after his death, on which his corpse was translated to Misenum.
Christianity and religion in general has always been an important part of the social and cultural life of Naples. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Naples, and the Catholic faith is highly important to the people of Naples and there are hundreds of historic churches in the city. The Cathedral of Naples is the most important place of worship in the city, each year on September 19 it hosts the Miracle of Saint Januarius, the city's patron saint. In the miracle which thousands of Neapolitans flock to witness, the dried blood of Januarius is said to turn to liquid when brought close to relics said to be of his body: this is one of the most important traditions for Neapolitans.
The Royal Chapel of the Treasure of St. Januarius, or the Reale cappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro, is a chapel located in the Cathedral of Naples, Italy, and dedicated to St. Januarius, patron saint of the city. This is the most lavishly decorated chapel in the cathedral, and contains contributions by the premier Baroque artists in Naples.
Traditions of Italy are sets of traditions, beliefs, values, and customs that belongs within the culture of Italian people. These traditions have influenced life in Italy for centuries, and are still practiced in modern times. Italian traditions are directly connected to Italy's ancestors, which says even more about Italian history.
Our Lady of Miracles is the patron saint of the town of Alcamo.
The Holy Piety feast is a catholic feast celebrated on 7 January evening in Cannobio.
San Gennaro usually refers to St Januarius, bishop of Naples.
Saint Januarius in the Amphitheatre at Pozzuoli is a 1635-1637 oil on canvas painting by Artemisia Gentileschi. The work shows the moment that the Christian martyr Januarius and his followers are thrown to a group of wild animals in the amphitheatre in Pozzuoli - however, they lick the saint's feet rather than attacking him and Januarius is unharmed.