Like devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, devotion to His Precious Blood is one of the oldest forms of Catholic piety, and over the centuries many holy men and women have had a particular devotion to it. The modern form of the devotion is attributed to Saint Catherine of Siena who lived in the fourteenth century and has been described as the “Prophetess of the Precious Blood.”
In the nineteenth century that the devotion to the Precious Blood was vigorously promoted and given Papal support. In 1815, at the request of Pope Pius VII, the Italian priest Gaspare del Bufalo established a society of secular priests, the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, to give missions and spread devotion to the Precious Blood.
Gaspare del Bufalo died in 1837. In 1841 the Rule for his Congregation was approved by Pope Gregory XVI, and in 1849 Pope Pius IX approved the Feast of the Most Precious Blood to be celebrated throughout the universal Church on the first Sunday in July. Pope Saint Pius X moved the Feast to the first day of July and Pope Pius XI raised it to the rank of First Class double.
The Church set aside the month of July, following immediately after the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as the month of the Precious Blood:
“The Precious Blood is the wealth of the Sacred Heart. The Sacred Heart is the symbol of the Precious Blood; yet not its symbol only, but its palace, its home, its fountain. It is to the Sacred Heart that it owes the joy of its restlessness and the glory of its impetuosity. It is to the Sacred Heart that it returns with momentary swiftness, and assails it, as a child assails his mother, for fresh powers, for new vigour, and for the continuance of its unwearied impulses. The devotion to the Precious Blood is the devotion which unveils the physical realities of the Sacred Heart. The devotion to the Sacred Heart is the figurative expression of the qualities, dispositions, and genius of the Precious Blood - only that the figure is itself a living and adorable reality.”
Father Frederick William Faber, The Precious Blood (1860) 342.
The ends of devotion to the Precious Blood are:
- the adoration and glorification of this divine Blood;
- thanksgiving to Jesus for having paid so precious a price for our redemption;
- reparation for the insults offered to His Blood in the Passion, and to this day by our coldness and infidelity;
- invocation of this redemptive and Eucharistic Blood to plead for us that we might obtain pardon and mercy and an increase of love;
- oblation of the Precious Blood for the wants of the Church and for the suffering souls in Purgatory.
LITANY OF THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.
Blood of Christ, only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father, save us.
Blood of Christ, Incarnate Word of God, save us.
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament, save us.
Blood of Christ, falling on the Earth in the Agony, save us.
Blood of Christ, shed profusely in the Scourging, save us.
Blood of Christ, flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns, save us.
Blood of Christ, poured out on the Cross, save us.
Blood of Christ, price of our salvation, save us.
Blood of Christ, without which there is no forgiveness, save us.
Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls, save us.
Blood of Christ, stream of mercy, save us.
Blood of Christ, victor over demons, save us.
Blood of Christ, courage of Martyrs, save us.
Blood of Christ, strength of Confessors, save us.
Blood of Christ, bringing forth Virgins, save us.
Blood of Christ, help of those in peril, save us.
Blood of Christ, relief of the burdened, save us.
Blood of Christ, solace in sorrow, save us.
Blood of Christ, hope of the penitent, save us.
Blood of Christ, consolation of the dying, save us.
Blood of Christ, peace and tenderness of hearts, save us.
Blood of Christ, pledge of eternal life, save us.
Blood of Christ, freeing souls from Purgatory, save us.
Blood of Christ, most worthy of all glory and honour, save us.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
V. You have redeemed us, O Lord, in your Blood.
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom.
Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, who appointed your only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world, and has willed to be appeased by His Blood: grant us, we beseech you, so to venerate (with solemn worship) the price of our redemption and by its power be so defended against the evils of this life, that we may enjoy the fruit thereof forever more in Heaven. Through the same Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.
R. Amen.
