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    I was told the attendance had of late years very much fallen off . High mass was performing with great pomp in the presence of the Royal Family , and with the assistance of three Cardinal Archbishops . At noon , the mass being finished , a procession was formed to go and fetch the skull and the blood of the saint from an adjoining chapel in which they ; are ordinarily deposited . The skull being brought was exalted into a conspicuous place in the principal altar of the cathedral . Some ceremonies were then performed over the small chest containing the blood , and it was exposed to public view . The moment it was seen , a loud clatter of female voices was heard from the rails

    of the altar , and I concluded the miracle was done , and that the female tongues were let loose in unbounded acclamation . But I found I was mistaken ; the first sight only of the box had drawn forth this din from a set of females who always attend on the occasion , and are said to be the relations of St . Januarius , m compliance with whose clamorous petitions the saint

    vouchsafes to work the miracle . They continued , at the top of their voices , and with their mouths wide open , to call on the saint to hear them , for two hours and a half , without more than a slight interruption to take breath . Sometimes they sung a hymn together ; at other times they seemed each to be indulging in her own extemporaneous effusions ; at others they called out , " O sacred head ! " for several minutes together ; and once for a quarter of an hour they said nothing but ora pro nobis / ( O Baal , hear us !) This was the first occasion on which I had seen females officiating in the Catholic Church , within the rails of the altar 1 But I am led to imagine the office they performed was not the most important part of the ceremony . *

    T-V j | 1 . 1 . . /• il • , 1 ' 1 1 _ j _ .. !__ . . 1 . "I 1 _ j During the whole of this noisy scene , the glass chest was handed about by a priest to be kissed by the faithful . As a lighted candle was frequently held to it , there was abundant opportunity of ascertaining that the red substance contained within it , in two phials , was in a solid state . One phial was full , the other had only a single drop adhering fast to the side of the glass . Both appeared to come into contact with the glass of the chest in which they stood . The chest was turned over and over , and every now and then it was examined by the light of the taper to see if the miracle was done yet . But all to no purpose ; the saint seemed unusually slow in his

    operations on the present occasion . People seemed to be tired of waiting , and the assembly was reduced from about three thousand to five hundred . In this stage of the business , a priest got up and began to address a discourse to the people on our obligations to Saint Januarius , and the duty of imitating him , by leading a life of self-denial and abstraction / rom the world , which he said was the real martyrdom . He had been preaching about twenty minutes , the people kissing the glass chest all the while , when suddenly a young priest , clapping his hands loudly above his head , skipped up three steps of the altar at once , and exclaimed , " h fatto ! " ** His done / " and burst

    into a loud laugh of extravagant joy . The discourse could now no longer be listened to , and indeed it had probably already answered its end , by filling up the time until the miracle was wrought . The joy of the people now knew no bounds , and the whole was a scene of noise and confusion . The young priest before mentioned began to sing a hymn , but he was only joined by two or three , while the rest were running about the church , and exclaiming , " O good St . Januarius J O admirable miracle ! " leaping into the air , shaking hands with one another in congratulation , or breaking forth into weeping . I was resolved to be fully satisfied of the reality of the change , and went eight several times to the glass chest , and examined it

    Untitled Article

    226 Narrative of a Residence of Four Months at Naples .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1828, page 220, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2559/page/4/