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*Michelanglucy DEF.Qxd OF BOOKS, ART AND PEOPLE I BY LUCY GORDAN THE TREASURE OF SAN GENNARO 700 YEARS OF ART AND DEVOTION lthough over the centuries the city of Naples has works in the exhibition “The Stones of Devotion-The accumulated 54 official co-patron saints, the Wonders of the Treasures of San Gennaro” on un- AFrench writer Alexandre Dumas (1802- til August 1 in seven venues of downtown Naples: 1870), best known for his adventurous historical The Museum of the Treasure of San Gennaro, novels, The Three Musketeers and The Count of The Cathedral, The Royal Chapel of San Gen- Monte Cristo, was right. “Naples,” he said, “is naro, Sacristy of San Gennaro, The Historical not imaginable without San Gennaro”, and Archive of the Bank of Naples, The Diocesan From left to right: Gold pyx donated by Crown-Prince Umberto and his bride Maria José in then quickly added “but neither is San Gen- Museum once the Church of Donna Regina 1931. It's the last royal gift made to the saint. "San Gennaro's Necklace"; the Episcopal naro without Naples.” Nuova, and the Girolamini Complex found- crucifix donated by King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. Below: San Gennaro's miter Little is known about the life of Gennaro ed by San Filippo Neri (1515-95), all within Bank of Naples. All the artifacts on display in the other venues will parte, the elder brother of Napoleon, who made him King of (English: Januarius, although seldom used easy walking-distance of each other and on return home to the Museum, the Sacristy, and the Chapel.” Naples from 1806-1808, before Murat’s reign; and of King Vitto- in deference to the preferred Gennaro), a one ticket:15 Euros plus 3 Euros for an audio The five “wonders” on permanent display are: an altar cross rio Emanuele II of Savoy. A curiosity concerns Princess Maria martyr saint of both the Roman Catholic guide(www.museosangennaro.it, tel. 011-39- dating to 1707 donated by the Spera family and encrusted with a José, who visited San Gennaro’s Chapel during her 1931 visit to and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Ac- 081-294980). very rare type of coral from Sciacca in Sicily on display in the Sac- Naples. Having brought nothing with her to donate, she took off cording to various Christian legends, he More valuable than that of the British Crown risty; a gilded silver monstrance donated in 1808 at the request of the emerald ring and matching earrings she was wearing and gave was allegedly born in Benevento to a and of the Russian Tsar, the Treasure of San Napoleon by his brother-in-law Joaquin Murat, the French king them to the saint. In all, this dazzling “necklace” has thirteen rich patrician family. At the young Gennaro counts 21,720 artifacts donated to the of Naples from 1808 to 1815; another monstrance made of solid gold link chains weighing 25 pounds, 901 diamonds, age of 15, he became priest of his saint over 700 years. The oldest treasure is the gold and decorated with emeralds, rubies, diamonds and 489 rubies, and 143 emeralds. Its only addition from a local parish in Benevento and at already-mentioned saint’s bust dating to 1305. sapphires by the highly-esteemed Neapolitan gold- commoner, a woman who survived an epidemic, is 20 the Bishop of Naples. Also dating to the 14th century, but further em- smith, Gaspare de Angelis and donated in 1837 by small pair of pearl earrings which dates to 1846. Around 305 AD, during the bellished between 1643 and 1676, is the reli- Maria Theresa of Austria, who with this gift “It must be remembered,” smiled Iorio, “that Diocletian Persecution, the quary for the vials of Januarius’s blood. wished to ingratiate herself to the Neapolitans, San Gennaro snubs no one.” Roman authorities behead- The most recent donation is a silver bust who considered her haughty, on the occasion of A second masterpiece of inestimable value ed Bishop Januarius, but of the French saint Jeanne-Antide her marriage as the second wife of Ferdinand is San Gennaro’s miter, made by the Neapoli- only after the wild lions Thouret (1765-1826) donated II, King of Naples; a gold chalice, which tan goldsmith Matteo Treglia in 1713 and or bears to whom he’d last year by the confraternity cost almost 3,000 ducats at a time when the adorned with 3,692 precious stones: 3,326 been thrown in the am- of this saint’s order. best coach with four horses, the equivalent diamonds, 198 emeralds, and 168 rubies. phitheater of the nearby The Treasure’s Museum, of a deluxe car today, cost around 30 Until the 1920s during the May procession town Pozzuoli (centuries which opened on December 9, ducats, donated by Pope Pius IX in 1849 to through the narrow streets of the nearby no- later Sophia Loren’s 2003, was the brainchild of its thank the people of Naples for their hospi- torious neighborhood “Spaccanapoli” it was birthplace) instead knelt director Neapolitan journalist tality during his exile here; and a gold pyx worn by the 1305 saint’s bust which still fol- down in his submission, not The gilded silver reliquary bust of San Gennaro (1305) which contains Paolo Iorio, formerly a produc- decorated with coral and malachite and do- lows the reliquary with the two vials of San part of the saint's skull to mention that he’d also er of 187 art documentaries for nated in 1931 by the crown-prince of Naples Gennaro’s blood. emerged from a burning furnace unscathed. In the fifth century, the Italian State Television RAI. Iorio was inspired while produc- (later King Umberto II of Italy only for the The other three priceless objets-d’art are: a Naples inherited his relics including two vials of his blood which ing a documentary about his hometown’s favorite saint for the month of May 1946)and his bride the Belgian gold chalice with gems donated in 1761 by his followers had saved. In 1389, a priest holding these vials of BBC in 1996 when he uncovered thousands of artifacts belonging princess Maria José to commemorate their boy-King Ferdinand IV of Naples; a pyx, con- the saint’s coagulated blood noticed the contents beginning to bub- to the Treasure piled up higgledy-piggledy in storerooms and first official visit to Naples. It was the last roy- sidered by many including the Museum’s di- ble and liquefy. Since then the blood liquefies and boils whenev- wardrobes in the Cathedral and the nearby religious complexes al gift made to San Gennaro. rector to be the most beautiful of the ten er it’s in close proximity to the gilded silver bust-reliquary deco- which are housing the present exhibition. The five returning to the caveau are: “wonders” donated by King Ferdinand II rated with enamels and precious stones and containing part of Jan- “To select which of these many thousand treasures to put on “San Gennaro’s necklace”, probably the of Bourbon when he became King of uarius’s skull. Today thousands of people assemble to witness this permanent display in the Museum and now which to feature in the most precious piece of jewelry in the Naples in 1831; and an Episcopal cru- event in Naples Cathedral three times a year: on September 19th exhibition were not easy choices,” Iorio said during the exhibition world, which is the result of 200 years cifix of emeralds and diamonds do- (Januarius’s feast day, to commemorate his martyrdom), on De- tour he gave me. “The some 150 artifacts displayed here perma- of donations from many royal houses of nated in 1878 by the King of Italy cember 16 (to celebrate his patronage of Naples and of the arch- nently, which Pope Benedict XVI visited in October 2007, were Europe passing through Naples from Umberto I and his wife Queen diocese), and on the Saturday before the first Sunday of May (to chosen to put together a kind of time machine of the treasure’s 1679 to 1931 and includes gifts from Margherita, the namesake of the commemorate the reunification of his relics). highlights. Then two years ago a committee of experts designated Bourbon King Charles III of Spain; of pizza with tomato (red), mozzarella This magnificent bust on permanent display in the Royal ten artifacts as ‘wonders’ based on their monetary and historical his wife Queen Maria Amalia of Saxony; (white), and basil (green) toppings for Chapel of San Gennaro, made in France for the French King of value. Five of these are on permanent display here and five have of Queen Maria Carolina of Austria, the the flag of newly-unified Italy. Naples Charles II of Anjou in 1305, is just one of some 150 art- never been displayed before and will return to the caveau of the first wife of Ferdinand II; of Joseph Bona- Other highlights of the exhibition in- M 52 INSIDE THE VATICAN JUNE-JULY 2011 JUNE-JULY 2011 INSIDE THE VATICAN 53 OF BOOK, RTA AND PEOPLE clude the display in the Diocesan Museum of 16 of the city’s Another curiosity is that the Treasure has never been robbed 54 patrons’ solid silver busts, each weighing 440 pounds; (23 or violated. “Not only did Napoleon not carry off the Treasure of these 54 are usually paraded in the May procession); anoth- as war booty as was his custom,” explained Iorio, “he asked er six, of San Gennaro’s original six co-patrons: Sant’Aspreno, Joaquin Murat to make a donation.
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