Charles C.F. Greville in Chapel of St Januarius, Naples - 7 May, 1830, in the morning

from Journal entry, 7 May 1830, pages 355–356:

In the morning to the Chapel of St. Januarius, to see the blood liquefy. The grand ceremony was last Saturday at the Cathedral, but the miracle is repeated every morning in the chapel for eight days. I never saw such a scene, at once so ludicrous and so disgusting, but more of the latter. There was the saint all bedizened with pearls on the altar, the other silver ladies and gentlemen all round the chapel, with an abundance of tapers burning before them. Certain people were admitted within the rails of the altar; the crowd, consisting chiefly of women, and most of them old…   more >>

cite as

Charles C.F. Greville, Journal entry, 7 May 1830. In Henry Reeve (ed.), The Greville Memoirs: A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV, volume 1 (London, 1874), p. 355–356. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1529675651603 accessed: 28 March, 2024

location of experience: Chapel of St Januarius, Naples

Listeners

Charles C.F. Greville
Clerk-in-ordinary to the Privy Council, Political and social diarist, Private secretary
1794-1865

Listening to

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Singing at a religious ceremony

Experience Information

Date/Time 7 May, 1830, in the morning
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, indoors, in public

Notes

The ritual of the liquefaction of the blood of St Januarius takes place three times a year in Naples.


Originally submitted by lcc5 on Fri, 22 Jun 2018 14:54:12 +0100
Approved on Sat, 30 Jun 2018 18:34:27 +0100