SOFT NEWS Saint’s dried blood liquefie

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http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/saint-s-dried-blood-liquefies-1.1386835

Saint’s dried blood liquefies

September 19 2012 at 08:35pm
By SAPA


iol news pic San Gennaro



San Gennaro, the Roman Ctholic patron saint of Naples.

Rome - The dried blood of the Roman Catholic patron saint of Naples mysteriously turned to liquid Wednesday in a repeat of what residents consider a miracle and good omen, the local church said.

A small crowd at the cathedral in the southern Italian city cheered at the announcement, when city archbishop Crescenzio Sepe brought out a small reliquary with the two vials of San Gennaro's blood.

The phenomenon, which took place at the expected hour and was heralded as an auspicious sign for the debt-ridden country, has regularly occurred for centuries, drawing surprise and controversy. - Sapa-AFP
 
Dobbin

Dobbin

Faithful Steed
My friend and yours Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Januarius

Scientific studies and other theories

Believers continue to insist on the reality of the phenomenon based on their faith, insisting that the annual event is a miraculous one. Scientists however have proposed hypotheses to explain the liquification using contemporary scientific knowledge of how matter and the universe work.

The Catholic Church does not permit the vials to be opened, for fear that doing so may cause irreparable damage. This makes close analysis difficult. Nevertheless, a spectroscopic analysis performed in 1902 by Gennaro Sperindeo and Raffaele Januario[20] claimed that the spectrum was consistent with hemoglobin. A later analysis, with similar conclusions, was carried out in 1989.[21] However, the reliability of these observations has been questioned.[14] While clotted blood can be liquefied by mechanical stirring, the resulting suspension cannot solidify again.[14]

Measurements made in 1900 and 1904 claimed that the ampoules' weight increased by up to 28 grams during liquefaction. However, later measurements with a precision balance, performed over five years, failed to detect any variation.[14]

Various suggestions for the content's composition have been advanced, such as a material that is photosensitive, hygroscopic, or has a low melting point.[22] However, these explanations run into technical difficulties, such as the variability of the phenomenon and its being unrelated to ambient temperature.[14]

A recent hypothesis by Garlaschelli, Ramaccini, and Della Sala is that the vial contains a thixotropic gel,[14][23] he also explained on the Blood Miracle of Riddles of the Dead series on National Geographic Channel.[24] In such a substance viscosity increases if left unstirred and decreases if stirred or moved. Researchers have proposed specifically a suspension of hydrated iron oxide, FeO(OH), which reproduces the color and behavior of the 'blood' in the ampoule.[25] The suspension can be prepared from simple chemicals that would have been easily available locally since antiquity.[26][27]

Dobbin
 
Dobbin

Dobbin

Faithful Steed
I was surprised by the apparent candor of the Catholic Church on this subject. And this going back over a century. Shroud of Turin is another subject of my interest - and fortunately the Church is in recent years opening up research into that relic too.

Also surprised by the Wikipedia report of the number of "other" vials of blood with similar properties among a certain region in Europe. It's like there was competition among the churches to get the most "effectual" relic - and thereby bring in the masses.

"Coming soon to a church near you - belly button lint from the Apostle Paul taken while he was recently incapacitated on the road to Damascus."

Kidding here. I should not.

I was careful to stick to the established facts in my post above. Miracles DO occur. (Heck you're probably reading one right now!) And whom am I to judge to the veracity of a long standing claim?

Belief moves mountains. But - and here's the nail missing from the shoe - you gotta BELIEVE.

Dobbin
 
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