Case file · Apparition / miracle
Liquefaction of San Gennaro's blood
The first known record of the dried blood of St Januarius turning liquid in its vial dates from 17 August 1389 in Naples. The rite is still held three times a year in the cathedral, and failure is seen as a bad omen.
1389 CE · 40.85, 14.26 · status: disputed
The sceptical view
In 1991 chemists Luigi Garlaschelli and colleagues made a lookalike thixotropic gel from materials known in the Middle Ages; the Church has not allowed the vial to be opened.