The Museum of San Gennaro
The newest museum in Naples has to do with one
of the oldest manifestations of religious faith in the
city and certainly the most fascinating. Elsewhere in Naples:
Life, Death & Miracles there is material
dealing with the person of San
Gennaro (St. Januarius). This brief item you
are reading here, however, is dedicated to the recently
inaugurated Museum of the Treasure of San Gennaro, where
a great number of gifts are on display that have been
donated ex voto
to the saint —that
is, to honor a vow made per grazie ricevute— for grace
received.
One should note, at
the outset, that there was a great deal of resistance to
having a museum of this kind in Naples. Neapolitans
regularly and unselfconsciously talk to their saints —their personal onomastic
saints, of course, but especially to San Gennaro, the
patron saint of the city, itself. Not all of the talk is
about matters of the spirit, either, or even to invoke
intercession against illness or calamity. Some of it is
downright pecuniary and folksy: ("Come on, Gennà, would
it kill you just this once to let these few numbers come
up in the lottery, tomorrow?). Thus, there is a "cult of
San Gennaro," people whose faith is so deep and whose
dedication so unwavering that a museum of ex voto items
seemed irreverent and out of place. The very idea of
having tourists lollygagging by to look at these items
out of abstract cultural interest...well, it didn't seem
right.
However
that may be, the museum has been open since February
of this year. It took eight years to plan and seven
months to set up. It is on the premises of the Duomo,
the Naples Cathedral. The entrance is just to the
right of the main entrance to the cathedral at the end
of the portico walkway of the adjacent building. The
premises of the museum occupy two floors. (The museum
is not to be confused with the Chapel of the Treasure of
San Gennaro consecrated in 1646 and within
the Cathedral, itself.)