Saint's relic with miraculous tendencies does it again for Pope Francis [CNA]

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http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/i...athedral_March_21_2015_Credit_CTV_CNA.jpgRome, Italy, Mar 21, 2015 / 01:24 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- While Pope Francis was giving some advice to the religious, priests and seminarians of Naples on Saturday, a miracle occurred: a vial of dried blood from a fourth century saint liquefied.
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This stunning but locally known and accepted phenomenon is said to happen three times a year: May 1, Sept. 19, which is the saint's feast day, and Dec. 16.

The last time this occured with a Pope was in 1848 with Pius IX. It didn't happen when St. John Paul II visited the city in October of 1979, or when Benedict XVI went in October of 2007.

The blood belongs St. Januarius, Patron of Naples and former bishop and martyr of the city, whose bones are also preserved in the cathedral. He's believed to have been martyred during the infamous persecution of Christians during the rule of the Roman emperor Diocletian.

On March 21, at the end of the meeting with priests, religious and seminarians in the cathedral of Naples, the Pope gave a blessing with the relic. When received by the cardinal of the diocese, Crescenzio Sepe, the blood was still solid on one side of the vial.

When Pope Francis returned the reliquary, the cardinal told him: “It seems that St. Januarius loves the Pope, because the blood is already half liquefied.”

For the miracle to occur, it's necessary to wait several minutes before the dried, red-colored mass confined to one side of the reliquary becomes blood that covers the entire glass.

Francis quipped in response: “you can see that the saint wants us halfway. We have to convert more,” drawing laughter from those within earshot.
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Full article…
 
CNA_News said:
For the miracle to occur, it’s necessary to wait several minutes before the dried, red-colored mass confined to one side of the reliquary becomes blood that covers the entire glass.
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And if you want to perform this ‘miracle’ for yourself, all you need is a glass bottle partly filled with a brownish substance called iron chloride mixed with calcium carbonate and salt… this was probably discovered by medieval painters who mixed many substances to create pigment.

It is disappointing that this Pope continues the tradition of performing magic and exorcisms for the consumption of the masses.

"In in Naples since 1389 every few months a sealed phial of the solid blood of St Januarius, when handled by priests, turns to liquid before the faithful who venerate it. Up until 1992, this “miracle” has remained unexplained. Reporting their discovery in Nature, scientists explored the tendency of certain gels to turn to liquid when stirred or vibrated and to return to the solid form when allowed to stand. This is know as thixotropy, and it appears to be what occurs in the holy blood relic of the mediaeval saint. Investigating the claim, Dr. Luigi Garlaschelli and his colleagues at the University of Pavia, Italy, have come up with a scientific explanation for the mystery of the clotted blood. To reproduce the effect, Garlaschelli’s team mixed calcium carbonate (or chalk) into a solution of water of hydrated iron chloride and used dialysis to transfer the chemical products across a membrane into distilled water. In mediaeval times, parchment or animal gut would have worked equally as well. By adding a pinch of common salt, a dark brownish ‘sol’ was formed which set into a solid gel. Gently shaken this gel turned into liquid. Then when left to stand, the liquid solidified. The researchers concluded: “The chemical nature of the Naples relic can be established only by opening the phial, but a complete analysis is forbidden by the Catholic Church. Our replication of the phenomenon seems to render this sacrifice unnecessary.”
 
romereports.com/pg160796-the-blood-of-st-januarius-was-liquified-while-the-pope-visited-naples-en
ARCH. CRESCENZIO SEPE
Archbishop of Naples
"The sign that San Gennaro loves the Pope, who is Neapolitan like us: the blood is already liquid.”

And in that moment, the blood wasn’t liquid at all. With humor, the Pope made this recommendation.
**
**
POPE FRANCIS
"It seems that the saint loves us a little bit. We have to convert a little more for him to love us completely.”

The phenomenon of the liquefaction of the saint’s blood has not happened in the presence of a Pope since 1848. John Paul II and Benedict XVI did not do it during their visits.
 
zab said:
romereports.com/pg160796-the-blood-of-st-januarius-was-liquified-while-the-pope-visited-naples-en
ARCH. CRESCENZIO SEPE
Archbishop of Naples
"The sign that San Gennaro loves the Pope, who is Neapolitan like us: the blood is already liquid.”

And in that moment, the blood wasn’t liquid at all. With humor, the Pope made this recommendation.
**
**
POPE FRANCIS
"It seems that the saint loves us a little bit. We have to convert a little more for him to love us completely.”

The phenomenon of the liquefaction of the saint’s blood has not happened in the presence of a Pope since 1848. John Paul II and Benedict XVI did not do it during their visits.
Click to expand...
Some other background. Can’t fully vouch for the site, so I am open to corrections.

miraclesofthechurch.com/2010/10/blood-miracle-of-st-januarius-gennaro.html
The liquefaction (becoming liquid) of the blood of St Januarius (Gennaro) is an extraordinary miracle of the Church that has been occurring up to 18 times each year for the past 600 years. It is only one of a number of blood miracles that have taken place, and in the case of St Januarius-Gennaro and others, are still taking place with blood that was collected soon after the death of certain martyrs. There is a well-documented history of these samples of blood liquefying at various times of the year, especially on the Saints’ feast days.
Click to expand...
 
SWolf said:
Some other background. Can’t fully vouch for the site, so I am open to corrections.

miraclesofthechurch.com/2010/10/blood-miracle-of-st-januarius-gennaro.html
Click to expand...
Thank you for this link. Although it comes from a devout Catholic blogger it has a lot of interesting information about this miracle and includes a link from the Vatican insider with an update to confirm the story of the liquification of the blood of “St. Gennaro” at the time of Pope Francis was there.
 
If you want to perform this ‘miracle’ for yourself, all you need is a glass bottle partly filled with a brownish substance called iron chloride mixed with calcium carbonate and salt… this was probably discovered by medieval painters who mixed many substances to create pigment.

"In in Naples since 1389 every few months a sealed phial of the solid blood of St Januarius, when handled by priests, turns to liquid before the faithful who venerate it. Up until 1992, this “miracle” has remained unexplained. Reporting their discovery in Nature, scientists explored the tendency of certain gels to turn to liquid when stirred or vibrated and to return to the solid form when allowed to stand. This is know as thixotropy, and it appears to be what occurs in the holy blood relic of the mediaeval saint. Investigating the claim, Dr. Luigi Garlaschelli and his colleagues at the University of Pavia, Italy, have come up with a scientific explanation for the mystery of the clotted blood. To reproduce the effect, Garlaschelli’s team mixed calcium carbonate (or chalk) into a solution of water of hydrated iron chloride and used dialysis to transfer the chemical products across a membrane into distilled water. In mediaeval times, parchment or animal gut would have worked equally as well. By adding a pinch of common salt, a dark brownish ‘sol’ was formed which set into a solid gel. Gently shaken this gel turned into liquid. Then when left to stand, the liquid solidified. The researchers concluded: “The chemical nature of the Naples relic can be established only by opening the phial, but a complete analysis is forbidden by the Catholic Church. Our replication of the phenomenon seems to render this sacrifice unnecessary.”
 
None of that really proves anything. Im not exactly a big fan of calling these things miracles, but I am comfortable believing its really saint blood and it liquifies at seemingly odd times.
 
without said:
If you want to perform this ‘miracle’ for yourself, all you need is a glass bottle partly filled with a brownish substance called iron chloride mixed with calcium carbonate and salt… this was probably discovered by medieval painters who mixed many substances to create pigment.

"In in Naples since 1389 every few months a sealed phial of the solid blood of St Januarius, when handled by priests, turns to liquid before the faithful who venerate it. Up until 1992, this “miracle” has remained unexplained. Reporting their discovery in Nature, scientists explored the tendency of certain gels to turn to liquid when stirred or vibrated and to return to the solid form when allowed to stand. This is know as thixotropy, and it appears to be what occurs in the holy blood relic of the mediaeval saint. Investigating the claim, Dr. Luigi Garlaschelli and his colleagues at the University of Pavia, Italy, have come up with a scientific explanation for the mystery of the clotted blood. To reproduce the effect, Garlaschelli’s team mixed calcium carbonate (or chalk) into a solution of water of hydrated iron chloride and used dialysis to transfer the chemical products across a membrane into distilled water. In mediaeval times, parchment or animal gut would have worked equally as well. By adding a pinch of common salt, a dark brownish ‘sol’ was formed which set into a solid gel. Gently shaken this gel turned into liquid. Then when left to stand, the liquid solidified. The researchers concluded: “The chemical nature of the Naples relic can be established only by opening the phial, but a complete analysis is forbidden by the Catholic Church. Our replication of the phenomenon seems to render this sacrifice unnecessary.”
Click to expand...
The authenticity of many holy relics and the miracles they have purportedly elicited have come into question when the lens of science is directed their way. The Shroud of Turin comes to mind. But you know what? Who cares? You can see the liquid or blood or whatever swirling about in the video. Let your mind play around with that. Sometimes the imagination can unlock spiritual pathways yet to be traversed.
 
anthrogirl said:
The authenticity of many holy relics and the miracles they have purportedly elicited have come into question when the lens of science is directed their way. The Shroud of Turin comes to mind. But you know what? Who cares? You can see the liquid or blood or whatever swirling about in the video. Let your mind play around with that. Sometimes the imagination can unlock spiritual pathways yet to be traversed.
Click to expand...
Is reality less important, and less interesting, than the stories people make up? Do you really not care whether things are true?
 
My thoughts on all of this:
  1. It seems they’re making it seem like this is happening to Pope Francis because God approves of him and the upcoming decisions he is about to make. This will cushion and reassure people’s doubt when changes are actually made (“God must be OK with it, because the miracle happened with Pope Francis”).
  2. It needs to be established that this is even real blood. Next step is to find out who’s blood is in there. I think it’s very much possible someone cut themselves and dripped their blood into the vial.
  3. This comes off as superstitious.
 
without said:
Is reality less important, and less interesting, than the stories people make up? Do you really not care whether things are true?
Click to expand...
We could ask you the same question. The explanation that some skeptics that you mentioned came up with has not been proven to be true concerning this relic.
“Every possible argument has been presented by skeptics, but all have been dismissed in view of the contrary reactions of the blood whose liquefaction occurs under the most diverse circumstances and physical conditions, The phenomenon has no need of special conditions to verify itself”. - See more at: miraclesofthechurch.com/2010/10/blood-miracle-of-st-januarius-gennaro.html#sthash.x4oGCMSr.dpuf
 
without said:
Is reality less important, and less interesting, than the stories people make up? Do you really not care whether things are true?
Click to expand...
What you are assuming is that someone is making up a story, which you cant prove. You can only make guesses. Is the vial full of Saint Blood? Probably. Does it liquefy? Probably. Is it a miracle, not sure. What I do know is that no person in that room bald faced lied, they reported their observations.

The biggest problem of atheism is the unilateral belief that nothing can happen supernaturally. ITs sad too because you have entrapped yourself into man atheistic box.
 
zab said:
We could ask you the same question. The explanation that some skeptics that you mentioned came up with has not been proven to be true concerning this relic.
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Because, as the above quote said, the church will not let archaeologists and other scientists examine the relic.
 
FormerXCatholic said:
The biggest problem of atheism is the unilateral belief that nothing can happen supernaturally. ITs sad too because you have entrapped yourself into man atheistic box.
Click to expand...
The theory is that this that there is no supernatural… so far when examining claims like these 100% of the time they turn out to have a natural explanation (like the theory of gravity… the ball drops every time), but like all theories it can be disproved.

The request is to let science examine and verify these claims… if the church was able to have a single verified supernatural event a lot of non-believers would reconsider (can you imagine the press coverage for an actual well studied and proven miracle?).

Unfortunately, every time a supposed supernatural event is examined, a natural explanation or a trick is found to be the cause.

What do you support? Should the church open up all of these claims to actual physical examination and science, or should the church hide them behind a curtain and everyone must just believe?

Don’t you want these things proven true? :yup:
 
The Catholic definition of a miracle is something that can’t be proven by science. See:
catholic.com/encyclopedia/miracle

Also note: While the Catholic Church has always supported the celebrations of St. Januarius, the Church has never formulated an official statement on the phenomenon, and maintains a neutral stance about scientific investigations.
 
gilliam said:
The Catholic definition of a miracle is something that can’t be proven by science.
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That’s my point… why does the church not let these miracles be fully examined by science? If they are not true miracles then we will know they are false… and if some of them are real, then a lot of people would be able to re-examine their thoughts.

If you have faith that these are true miracles then you should have no fear and should be willing to have them proven true. The whole world would celebrate with you if they are.🤷
 
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