The blood of St. Januarius liquefied on Thursday before a Mass in Naples, Italy, where the archbishop said that the blood of the fourth-century martyr is a powerful reminder that “love is stronger than death.”

Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples held up an ampoule containing the relic of the saint’s blood in the Naples cathedral on his feast day, revealing the liquefaction to shouts and cheers from the people who had waited in the cathedral since early in the morning. 

“Every drop of this blood speaks to us of the love of God,” Archbishop Battaglia said in his homily. “This blood is a sign of the blood of Christ, of his passion.”

The archbishop recalled that Sept. 19 marks the anniversary of St. Januarius’ martyrdom more than 1,700 years ago in which the saint chose death in “fidelity to the Gospel” to show that the love of God is “stronger than death, violence, or any power.”

Hundreds of people gathered in Naples’ Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary for the feast of St. Januarius, known as San Gennaro in Italian. The saint was a Catholic bishop believed to have been martyred during the Christian persecution of Emperor Diocletian.

In Neapolitan lore, the failure of the blood to liquefy signals war, famine, disease, or other disasters. The reputed miracle usually occurs up to three times a year: Sept. 19, the saint’s feast day; the first Saturday of May, the day his remains were transferred to Naples; and Dec. 16, the anniversary of the 1631 eruption of the nearby Mount Vesuvius.

In his homily, the archbishop of Naples cautioned against reducing the veneration of the city’s saint to mere superstition.

“We do not have to worry if the blood of this relic does not liquefy, but we do have to worry if it is the blood of the downtrodden, the marginalized, and the poor that flows through our streets,” he said.

Prince Carlo of the House of Bourbon and Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy were present in the Naples cathedral and exchanged an embrace at the news of the relic’s liquefaction, according to Italian media.

The Mass was the culmination of two days of celebrations for the southern Italian city’s patron saint. 

St. Januarius “reminds each of us today that the Gospel of Jesus provides the compass we need to live, to live fully, facing head-on and with courage the challenges that each age brings,” Archbishop Battaglia said.