According to various hagiographies, Januarius was born in Benevento to a rich patrician family that traced its descent to the Caudini tribe of the Samnites.

[9] In the United States, the Feast of San Gennaro is also a highlight of the year for New York's Little Italy, with the saint's polychrome statue carried through the middle of a street fair stretching for blocks.

According to an early hagiography,[n 4] Januarius's relics were transferred by order of Severus, Bishop of Naples, to the Neapolitan catacombs "outside the walls" (extra moenia).

Carafa commissioned a richly decorated crypt, the Succorpo, beneath the cathedral to house the reunited body and head properly.

While the report of the very first incidence of liquefaction did not make any explicit reference to the skull of the saint, soon afterwards assertions began to appear that this relic was activating the melting process, as if the blood, recognizing a part of the body to which it belonged, "were impatient while waiting for its resurrection".

"[22] The blood is stored in two hermetically sealed small ampoules, held since the 17th century in a silver reliquary between two round glass plates about 12 cm wide.

The smaller, cylindrical ampoule contains only a few reddish spots on its walls, the bulk having allegedly been removed and taken to Spain by Charles III.

After intense prayers by the faithful, including the so-called "relatives of Saint Januarius" (parenti di San Gennaro), the content of the larger vial typically appears to liquify.

[23] While the Catholic Church has always supported the celebrations, it has never formulated an official statement on the phenomenon and maintains a neutral stance about scientific investigations.

[14] A recent hypothesis by Garlaschelli & al. is that the vial contains a thixotropic gel,[14][31] In such a substance viscosity increases if left unstirred and decreases if stirred or moved.

][34] In 2010, Giuseppe Geraci, a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology at Naples's Frederick II University, conducted an experiment on a vial containing old blood—a relic dating back to the 18th century from the Eremo di Camaldoli near Arezzo in Tuscany—having the same characteristics of the blood of St.

It is not enough to attribute to the movement the ability to dissolve the blood, the liquid contained in the Treasure case changes state for reasons still to be identified."

[36] A book by the historian of science Francesco Paolo de Ceglia recently traced the research of various scientists over the centuries to explain the phenomenon, which, according to him, has a thermal origin, since the (alleged) blood, in September, when the temperature is highest, is already extracted in liquid form from the tabernacle that stores it.

[41] The blood cults of the other saints have been discontinued since the 16th century, which noted skeptic James Randi takes as evidence that local artisans or alchemists had a secret recipe for manufacturing this type of relic.

[39][42][43] Jordan Lancaster leaves open the possibility that the practice was a Christian survival of a pagan ritual intended to protect the locals from unexpected eruptions from Mount Vesuvius.

According to studies done by a pool of experts who have analyzed all the pieces in the collection, the Treasure of St. Januarius is of higher value than the crown of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the Tsar of Russia.

The Treasure is a unique collection of art masterpieces, kept untouched thanks to the Deputation of the Chapel of St Januarius, an ancient secular institution founded in 1527 by a vote of the city of Naples, still existing.