The Day of the Handkerchiefs, the Battle for the Treasure of San Gennaro

The Background

On January 22, 2016, the Ministry of the Interior issued a decree that, by equating the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro to a “fabbriceria” (a term identifying a Church asset), set a one-year deadline for the approval of the Chapel’s new Statute.

This measure was considered an objective danger to the safeguarding of the Chapel itself as a lay entity and of the Deputation, the body that, by the will of the City of Naples, has always administered it.

Legally, the Deputation challenged the decree, serving an articulated appeal to the Ministry and the Curia, and at the same time, diplomatically, began a delicate process to demonstrate to both the groundlessness of the decision and the necessity for the Chapel to remain the exclusive property of the City.

Popular Participation

The city of Naples rallied around the Deputation, and with it, media from all over the world, which, in reporting the news for several days, sided with the deputies and the institution.

In just ten days, over ten thousand signatures were collected in a popular petition supporting the entity and its secular nature, but the most moving participation came from the spontaneous movement on Saturday, March 5: at around 3 PM, three thousand people gathered in front of the cathedral square to demonstrate in favor of the Chapel’s secularity, each waving a white handkerchief, repeating the gesture that for centuries the Deputy in charge has given to the City as soon as the Patron Saint’s blood liquefies.

The Turning Point

On April 23, 2016, the Curia and the Deputation signed a historic act clarifying the secular nature of the Chapel between the parties.

On April 30, 2016, on the occasion of the “Miracle of May,” the Minister of the Interior, Angelino Alfano, met in Naples with the Deputation and the Curia to seal the agreement reached.