Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania<\/a>, has invoked some heavenly help for its second annual blood drive \u2014 and the initiative\u2019s patron saint is a perfect match.<\/p>\nSince September, the diocese has been partnering with the nonprofit Miller-Keystone Blood Center to collect blood donations at the latter\u2019s various locations, following up on the success of last year\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n
The drive \u2014 which through Miller-Keystone will help supply blood to all of the region\u2019s major hospital networks \u2014 is being held in honor of St. Januarius, a fourth-century bishop and martyr who is the patron of blood banks.\n <\/p>\n
Miraculous liquefaction<\/p>\n
That designation is due to the miraculous liquefaction of a relic of the saint\u2019s dried blood that typically takes place three times a year at the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro (St. Januarius) in Naples, Italy. St. Januarius is that city\u2019s beloved patron.<\/p>\n
The diocesan blood drive\u2019s start and end dates, Sept. 16 and Dec. 16, respectively mark the saint\u2019s feast day and one of the three days of that liquefaction.<\/p>\n
And after they roll up their sleeves to donate, participants who provide their parish\u2019s blood drive sponsor code receive a St. Januarius medallion blessed by Bishop Alfred A. Schlert of Allentown or \u2014 if they already have one from last year\u2019s campaign \u2014 a prayer card.<\/p>\n
Bishop Schlert, who was among the donors, told OSV News that \u201csupporting a blood drive is a profound act of charity and solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donated blood together<\/p>\n
He and Miller-Keystone CEO Rami Nemeh even \u201cdonated blood together in a little friendly competition,\u201d Allentown diocesan communications director Lina Tavarez told OSV News.<\/p>\n
With the 2024 inaugural drive collecting 571 donations, Tavarez said that this year\u2019s campaign \u201ccontinues to go strong,\u201d with 442 donations so far and 17 first-time donors.<\/p>\n
Parishes topping the donation numbers in the drive include St. Thomas More in Allentown (64) and St. Joseph the Worker in Orefield (60), along with St. Catharine of Siena in Reading (34), St. Mary in Hamburg (24) and St. Jane Frances de Chantal in Easton (19).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis generosity is a concrete way of following Christ, who offered his own blood for the life of others,\u201d said Bishop Schlert. \u201cActs like these reflect the heart of our Catholic mission: to serve others with compassion, hope and love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"79 (OSV News) \u2014\u00a0The Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, has invoked some heavenly help for its second annual blood…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":{"0":"post-58156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}