The Precious Blood of Our Lord

The Precious Blood of Our Lord

- July 1st

It was mostly St. Caspar del Bufalo who spread the special devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus. This holy priest of Italy was determined to make people honor the Precious Blood, and his sermons were like “religious earthquakes.”

St. Caspar founded the Missioners of the Precious Blood, and another holy soul, Blessed Mary de Mattias was inspired by one of St. Caspar’s sermons to start a Congregation of Sisters Adorers of the Precious Blood. St. Caspar said he would die happy if a feast were established in honor of Our Savior’s Precious Blood. Just twelve years after his death, Pope Pius IX established this Feast.


It is only right that we should honor the Precious Blood of Jesus, as we honor His Sacred Heart. Jesus shed His precious Blood for our salvation many times during His life: when he was circumcised, when He sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He was scourged and crowned with thorns, when the soldiers nailed His hands and feet to the cross, and when His heart was pierced with a sword.


Jesus shed His blood to the last drop to save us from hell. To honor the Precious Blood today we will offer to Jesus some little sacrifices.

Feast of the Most Precious Blood

Feast of the Most Precious Blood - July 1st

(The following is taken from Dom Prosper Guéranger's entry in The Liturgical Year for July 1, in Volume XII of the 1983 Marian House edition of the English translation by the Benedictines of Stanbrook.)

John the Baptist has pointed out the Lamb, Peter has firmly established his throne, Paul has prepared the bride; their joint work, admirable in its unity, at once suggests the reason for their feasts occurring almost simultaneously in the cycle. The alliance being now secured, all three fall into shade; whilst the bride herself, raised up by them to such loftly heights, appears alone before us, holding in her hands the sacred cup of the nuptial-feast."

"This gives the key of today's solemnity, revealing how its appearance in the heavens of the holy liturgy at this particular season is replete with mystery. The Church, it is true, has already made known to the sons of the new covenant, in a much more solemn matter, the price of the Blood that redeemed them, its nutritive strength, and the adorng homage is its due. On Good Friday, earth and heaven beheld all sin drowned in the saving stream, whose eternal flood-gates at last gave way beneath the combined effort of man's violence and of the love of the divine Heart. The festival of Corpus Christi witnessed our prostrate worship before the altars whereon is perpetuated the Sacrifice of Calvary, and where the outpouring of the precious Blood affords drink to the humblest little ones, as well as to the mightiest potentates of earth, lowly bowed in adoration before it."

"How is it, then, that holy Church is now inviting all Christians to hail, in a particular manner, the stream of life ever gushing from the sacred fount? What else can this mean, but that the preceding solemnities have by no means exhausted the mystery? The peace which this Blood has made to reign in the high places as well as in the low; the impetus of its wave bearing back the sons of Adam from the yawning gulf, purified, renewed, and dazzling white in the radiance of their heavenly apparel; the sacred Table outspread before them on the waters' brink, and the chalice brimful of inebriation - all this preparation and display would be objectless, all these splendours would be incomprehensible, if man were not brought to see therein the wooings of a love that could never endure its advances to be outdone by the pretensions of any other. Therefore, the Blood of Jesus is set before our eyes at this moment as the Blood of the Testament; the pledge of the alliance proposed to us by God [Exodus 24: 8; Hebrews 9: 20]' the dower stipulated by eternal Wisdom for this divine union to which He is inviting all men, and its consummation in our soul which is being urged forward with such vehemence by the Holy Ghost."

"'Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in entering into the Holies by the Blood of Christ,' says the apostle, 'a new and living way which He hath dedicated for through the veil - that is to say, His flesh - let us draw near with a pure heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He is faithful that hath promised. Let us consider one another to provoke unto charity and to good works [Hebrews 10: 19-24]. And may the God of peace who brought again from the dead the great Pastor of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Blood of the everlasting Testament, fit you in all goodness, that you may do His will: doing in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom is glory forever and ever. Amen! [Hebrews 13: 20,21].'"

"Nor must we omit to mention here, that this feast is a monument of one of the most brilliant victories of holy Church in our own age. [Blessed Pope] Pius IX had been driven out from Rome in [November] 1848 by the triumphant revolution; but the following year, just about this season, his power was re-established. Under the aegis of the apostles on June 28 and the two following days, the eldest daughter of the Church [a former nickname for France], faithful to her past glories, swept the ramparts of the eternal city; and on July 2, Mary's festival [the feast of the Visitation on the traditional calendar], the victory was completed. Not long after this, a twofold decree notified to the city and the world the Pontiff's gratitude and the way in which he intended to perpetuate, in the sacred liturgy, the memory of these events."

The Martyrdom of St. Paul

The Martyrdom of St. Paul - June 30th

St. Paul is the great Apostle who first persecuted the Christians and then was converted. At the time of his conversion, Jesus had said: I will show him how much he must suffer for Me.”

St. Paul loved Jesus Crucified very much-so much that he became living copy of Our Divine Savior. All his life, during his many missionary trips, St. Paul met troubles and went through dangers of every kind. He was whipped, stoned, shipwrecked, and lost at sea. Many, many times, he was hungry, thirsty, and cold.

Yet, he always trusted in God. He never stopped preaching. “The love of Jesus presses me onward,” he said. In reward, God gave him great comfort and in every suffering.

When St. Paul found out that the Emperor Nero had begun a terrible persecution in Rome, he hurried back to Rome to comfort and encourage the Christians. The thought of the danger did not stop him. Before long, however, he and St. Peter were also put in prison and condemned. They were led out to execution together. As they walked along, these two great heroes of Christ encouraged each other.

At a certain point they were separated. St. Peter was crucified on Vatican Hill, and St. Paul was taken and beheaded near the place where his Basilica now stands. With what faith St. Paul bowed his head to accept the blow! From prison he had written: “Behold, the time of my deliverance is at hand. I have fought the good fight. I have kept the Faith. And there is laid up for me a crown, which the Lord will give me and to all those who love and serve Him.”

When we have some trouble or little cross, let us think of St. Paul, and let us pray to him for patience and more love of God.

St. Peter

St. Peter - June 29th

Peter, the first Pope and the prince of the Apostles, was a fisherman when Jesus invited him to follow Him, saying: “I will make you a fisher of men.” Peter was a simple man who sometimes acted without thinking, but he was generous, honest and very much attached to Our Lord.

This great Apostle’s name was Simon, but Jesus Himself changed it to Peter, which means “rock.” “You are Peter,” Jesus said, “and on this rock I shall build my Church.”


Because he did not pray for strength, he became afraid when Our Lord was arrested. It was then that he committed the sin of denying Our Lord three times, but he repented, and wept over his sin the rest of his life. Jesus forgave Peter and, after His Resurrection, asked him three times: “Do you love Me? Poor Peter! “Lord,” he said, “You know all things. You know I love You.” Then Our Lord said: “Feed My lambs and My Sheep.” He was telling Peter to rule over the whole Church, and after Our Lord went back to Heaven, Peter was the leader of all the Christians.


He went to Rome to live and converted many pagans. When a great persecution began, the Christians begged St. Peter to leave Rome and save himself. He started out, but on the road, he met Our Lord coming in. “Lord, where are you going?” Peter asked. And Jesus answered, “I am coming to be crucified a second time.” Then St. Peter turned around and went back, for he knew that the vision meant he was the one who was to die on the cross. He was taken prisoner and condemned to death by crucifixion. St. Peter asked to be crucified with his head downward, because he said he was not worthy to suffer as Jesus had.


If we have fallen into sin, we should not get discouraged. We should imitate St. Peter by being sorry and loving Jesus more than ever before.

St. Irenaeus - Patron of Gaul

St. Irenaeus - Patron of Gaul - June 28th

Irenaeus was a Greek who was born less than a hundred years after Our Lord died. He had the great privilege of being taught by St. Polycrap, who had been a disciple of St. John the Apostle. Irenaeus once told a friend: “I listened to St. Polycrap’s instructions very carefully, and I wrote down his actions and his words-not on paper, but on my heart.”

After he became a priest, Irenaeus was sent to the French city of Lyons. It was in this city that the Bishop, St. Pothinus, was martyred with a great many other Saints. Irenaeus missed being martyred because he was asked by his brother priests to take an important message from them to the Pope in Rome. In that letter they spoke of Irenaeus as a man full of zeal for the Faith.

When Irenaeus returned to be the Bishop of Lyons, the persecution was over. But there was another danger: a heresy called Gnosticism. The false religion attracted some people by its promise to teach them secret mysteries. Irenaeus studied all its teachings and then in five books showed how wrong they were. He wrote with politeness, because he wanted to win people for Jesus, but sometimes his words were strong, such as when he said: “As soon as a man has been won over by the Gnostics, he becomes puffed up with conceit, and self-importance, and with majestic air of a cock, he goes strutting about.” St. Irenaeus’ books were read by so many people that before too long, the whole heresy began to die out.

St. Irenaeus always remembered what he had been taught by St. Polycrap. We, too, should try to forget whatever evil impressed us, and think, instead, about the good things we have heard or read. If we think well, we will live well.

Blessed Madeleine Fontaine and Her Three Companions

Blessed Madeleine Fontaine and Her Three Companions - June 27th

These four French martyrs were Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Besides Blessed Madeleine, there were Blessed Frances Lanel, Blessed Teresa Fantou, and Blessed Joan Gerard. They were put to death for their Faith in the bloodiest days of the French Revolution.

First, the four Sisters were arrested because they refused to take an oath that could not be taken without committing a sin. The enemies of the church said that they had found certain papers in the convent which showed that the Sisters had been working against the Revolution. None of this was true, but a wicked judge in the city of Cambrai had Blessed Madeleine, the Superior, condemned to death, together with her three Sisters.

The sisters walked to their execution calmly singing a hymn to the Blessed Mother, “Hail, Star of the Sea.” Sister Madeleine was the last to die. As she came near the guillotine, she cried to the watching crowd: “Listen, Christians! We are the last victims. The persecution is going to stop. The altars of Jesus will rise again in glory!”

Her prophecy came true. The evil man who had judged the martyrs had to stop the executions because people were so angry with him. Six weeks later, he himself was beheaded.

No matter what happens, we should never promise to do something which is forbidden by God’s law.

St. Pelagius

St. Pelagius - June 26th

This boy martyr of Spain lived in the days when the Moors ruled part of his homeland and were fighting the Spanish Christians. Pelagius was only ten when his uncle had to leave him as a hostage with the Moors in the city of Cordova. He would not be allowed to go free until his uncle sent what the Moors demanded.

Three years passed and still the young Christian remained a prisoner. By this time, he was a handsome, lively boy of thirteen, and although many of the other prisoners were men of evil habits, Pelagius was not led to sin by their example. For one so young, he had a strong will and knew how to keep himself good-even in a prison.

The ruler of the Moors heard about the handsome young prisoner and he sent for him. He liked what he saw, and he offered Pelagius his freedom, plus fine clothes to wear, beautiful horses to ride, honor, money-as long as he would give up his Faith and become a Mohammedan like his captors.

“All those things you named mean nothing to me,” answered the boy firmly. “I have been a Christian. I am a Christian now. I shall continue to be a Christian.” Then the ruler tried threatening Pelagius, but neither his promises nor his threats had any effect.

What courage and generosity in this young boy of thirteen! He died a martyr for his Faith. Let us ask ourselves how faithful we are at least to the few little practices of piety our Religion requires of us.

St. William of Monte Vergine

St. William of Monte Vergine - June 25th

William was born in Northern Italy and was brought up by relatives because his parents died when he was a baby. When William grew up, he became a hermit, but when he worked a miracle and cured a blind man, he became famous. He was too humble to be pleased with the people’s admiration, so he went away to live alone on a very high, wild mountain.

Even there, however, men gathered around the Saint and he built a monastery for them dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. People gave the mountain a new name now-the Mountain of the Virgin-because of William’s monastery.

Later the Saint founded other great monasteries, helped by King Roger of Naples. His good influence on this king angered some evil men of the court, and they tried to show William was really an evil man hiding behind a holy habit. They sent a bad women to tempt him to sin. As soon as William what kind of women this visitor was, he worked a miracle and the evil women ran away frightened.

When we are tempted to commit a sin of impurity, we should remember that after that sin we might die and go to hell to suffer forever.

St. John the Baptist

St. John the Baptist - June 24th

John’s parents were Zachary and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was a cousin of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Mary went to visit and help when Elizabeth was old and about to become the mother. When they met, Jesus Who was within Mary, sanctified John, who was not yet born.

At the birth of St. John, his father gave him the name John, as the angel had commanded. John’s mission was to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. So when he was still a young boy he went into the desert to prepare himself with silence, prayer and penance. Soon crowds started to come to him. He warned them to be sorry for their sins, and to change their lives, he gave them the baptism of repentance. One day, Our Lord Himself came. He wanted to be baptized by St. John to begin making reparation for our sins. On that day, John said to his disciples that Jesus was the Messias for whom they had been waiting. He told them and everyone else to follow Him.
Later on, St. John learned that King Herod had married a woman who already had a husband and a daughter. This king was the son of the King Herod who murdered all those little boys in Bethlehem. St. john told him that it was wrong of him to live with that woman. For this, he was put in prison. He remained a prisoner until Herod had his head cut off to please the daughter of his sinful wife.

St. John’s motto was, “Jesus must become more and more, and I must become less and less.”

We must remember that God is everything and we are nothing. Let us learn from St. John not to look for praise and admiration, but to do everything for the glory of God.

St. Audrey (or Etheldreda)

St. Audrey (or Etheldreda) - June 23rd

St. Audrey was born in England. Her three sisters are also saints. She wanted to be a bride of Christ, but her parents wanted her to marry. Although she gave in to their wishes, she and her husband lived together as brother and sister. Three years later, he died, and Audrey went to live a quiet life of prayer on the island he had given her.

After five years, the saint’s relatives demanded that she marry again, and once more, Audrey gave in. Her second husband was young, and they, too, lived as brother and sister. Audrey spent all her time doing works of mercy. However, when her husband became older and was a powerful king, he wanted her to live as a wife and a queen. She replied that she belonged only to God. He tired hard to make her change her mind, but in the end, he let her become a nun.

Back on her own island, St. Audrey founded a convent and was a very holy superior. Instead of wearing the linen clothes worn by other noble women, she chose rough wool robes for herself. She slept only a few hours and prayed the rest of the night. St. Audrey died at the exact time she said she would, and her body was put into a plain wooden coffin, as she had wanted.

Let us admire this Saint who could have enjoyed all the pleasures of the world and instead gave them all up to make sure she would gain the pleasures of Heaven.