Devotion to the Precious Blood is connected to devotion to the Passion and Death of Our Lord since through the shedding of His Blood, mankind was redeemed. Consequently, one can say the Church has always honored the Blood of Jesus Christ. Romans 5:9 states, "we are justified by His blood", and Hebrews 13:12 states, "and so Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people by His blood, suffered outside the gate." 1 John 1:7 also writes of the Precious Blood: "...and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin." We would do well to meditate on the seven times Christ shed His Precious Blood for our salvation. As Fr. Peter Scott reminds us:
"The veneration of the Precious Blood of Our Divine Saviour is as old as the Passion in which it was shed. It is founded on the simple doctrine of the Incarnation, namely that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity took a human nature to Himself, and that this human nature is the human nature of God. We call this the hypostatic union. Every part of Christ’s human nature is united to the second divine Person. This includes his Precious Blood, to which is consequently owed the adoration that is owed to God Himself, that of Latria. We consequently do not need any private revelation to tell us about devotion to the Precious Blood, but find it deeply rooted in the deposit of the Faith."
Closer to our modern era, devotion to the Precious Blood has been greatly encouraged by Blessed Gaspar Buffalo, founder of the Congregation of the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. Pope Pius IX was exiled from Rome in 1849. A companion of Pope Pius IX was Don Giovanni Merlini, the third general of that Congregation. Don Giovanni Merlini suggested to Pope Pius IX that he make a vow to give the Feast of the Precious Blood to the entire church if he should regain the papal territory.
We owe the institution of a special feast in honour of the Precious Blood to Pope Pius IX, who on August 10, 1849, from his exile in Gaeta, did just that - he ordered its celebration in commemoration of the defeat of the forces of the revolution that enabled him to return to Rome. Then, it was Pope Pius XI, who gave it the status of a first class feast, in commemoration of the 19th centennial of the mystery of the Redemption. The Feast of the Precious Blood is celebrated on July 1st.
Devotions:
- Chaplet of the Most Precious Blood
- Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus (approved by Pope John XXIII on February 24, 1960)
- Offering in Reparation to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus (approved by Pope Pius VII on September 22, 1817)
- An Offering of the Precious Blood for Souls
4 comment(s):
Hey, Nice Blog site!. However all but one of you Precious Blood links don't work. :(
Nevermind, I guess they are just old links. You are eventually re-directed!
i am in a group at church and was discussing a prayer to my deacon,precious blood of jesus for 3 years and he said it was an old prayer,ha ha. i was even given penance by my priest of precious blood of jesus...since then i have been sasying the litany of precious blood and he said u cant pray everything you get in the mail! later i realized i got the card outside the church is the vestibule.ha ha. some of need study..thanks for being here! wm
this prayer is the saving grace of my lord for me.
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