Gennaro was born in the second half of the first century in Benevento, where he was elected bishop and carried out his apostolate, loved by the Christian community and also respected by the pagans.
His martyrdom is part of the persecution of Christians desired by Diocletian.
Initially Gennaro was sentenced to be eaten by animals in the amphitheater of Pozzuoli.
According to legend, the beasts knelt before the condemned man.
So the proconsul of Dragonius, fearing also disorder on the part of the people who loved Gennaro, on 19 September 305 had him beheaded.
According to tradition, blood was kept immediately after the beheading. A pious woman named Eusebia enclosed it in two ampoules that have become an iconographic attribute typical of San Gennaro.
Today the two ampoules containing the blood of the saint are fixed inside a small round case equipped with a handle and are kept in the safe behind the altar of the chapel of San Gennaro. One of the two is filled ¾ while the other is half empty because part of its contents was taken away by King Charles of Bourbon, who became King of Spain, took it with him.
The first liquefaction of blood documented dates back to 1389. As reported in the chronicon siculum but from the text it can be inferred that the phenomenon had already happened for a long time.
The miracle of liquefaction takes place three times a year: the Saturday before the first Sunday in May, 19 September and 16 December. Failure to liquefy is considered a harbinger of dramatic events. The Catholic Church, while approving its popular veneration, has never recognized the phenomenon as miraculous limiting itself to define it as prodigious.
Today San Gennaro is the patron saint of Naples, Afragola, Cercola, Folignano, Corga Cilento, Notaresco, San Gennaro Vesuviano, Somma Vesuviana, Torre del Greco, Trecase, Little Italy, goldsmiths and blood donors.
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