Word: januarius
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Dates: during 1930-1930
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...bridges fell, the loss of life was comparatively small. The first tremors set all the church-bells in the city to jangling. Crying Miracola! Miracola! (Miracle! Miracle!) pious Neapolitans tumbled from their houses to pray in the streets. At dawn hundreds were kneeling before the cathedral, calling upon St. Januarius...
...great and good man, a bishop and a martyr, St. Januarius is not the Patron Saint of Earthquakes, but of Naples. Tortured and beheaded by the Emperor Diocletian, his skull and two phials containing his blood (see cut) are among the most sacred relics of Naples Cathedral. Eighteen times a year the phials of blood miraculously liquefy. The skull has a reputation for stopping eruptions of Mt. Vesuvius. While the faithful prayed in the square last week, dour Cardinal Ascalesi, splendid in scarlet soutane and sash, held high the gold-encased skull, blessed 20,000 worshippers...
Disagreeing radically with the seismologists, Naples' dour Cardinal Ascalesi, guardian of St. Januarius' skull, insisted that the real cause of the earthquake was the indecent dresses of Neapolitan women...