The Cardinal himself reviewed this poem, not disapprovingly, in a catholic publication of the time
This refers to the popular Neapolitan belief that a crystallized drop of the blood of the patron saint, Januarius, is miraculously liquefied on given occasions.
The "Iketides" (Suppliants), mentioned in Section XVIII., is a Tragedy by Æschylus, the earliest extant: and of which the text is especially incomplete: hence, halting, and "maimed."