‘Miracle of San Gennaro’ failure seen as bad omen Reuters, NAPLES, Italy Wednesday was not a good day for superstitious Neapolitans. The blood of San Gennaro, the patron Saint of Naples, failed to liquefy, despite two rounds of praying, which some in the southern Italian city see as an omen of bad things to come. A vial containing the dried blood of the fourth-century martyr is put on public display three times a year in the city’s cathedral and the faithful pray for its liquefication, known as the “Miracle of San Gennaro.” Abbot Vincenzo de Gregorio holds a vial containing the blood of San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, in Naples, Italy, on Wednesday.