The Most Precious Blood
July is dedicated to the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord. Fr. Dominik explains some of the history of the devotion and how it is connected to the Christian martyrs of yesterday and today.
By Fr. Dominik Domagala, OMI
Pope Pius IX escaping Rome.
When revolutionary forces took power over Rome, Pope Pius IX had to flee the city disguised as a simple priest, dressed in a black cassock, to escape the hostile forces.
He lived in exile in the castle of Gaeta between 1848 and 1850. Here, he was accompanied by Father Giovanni Merlini, the third general superior of the congregation of the Precious Blood.
Inspired by this priest, His Holiness added the feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord to the General Roman Calendar in thanksgiving for the liberation of Rome. The new feast was to be celebrated on the first Sunday of July, the first Sunday after the 30th of June, when Rome was conquered by the French army and freed from the revolutionary forces.
Although the feast was suppressed from the General Roman Calendar in the liturgical reforms of 1969, the consecration of the month of July to the Precious Blood persists through the pious practice of the faithful. The Most Precious Blood itself, as well as the circumstances in which its celebration in the Universal Church came about, make it a very suitable subject for us.
Let us remember the story of the Passover, when the Israelites were under slavery in Egypt, a one-year-old lamb had to be slaughtered and its blood put on the doorposts of their houses, which served as a sign to protect their firstborns from the angel of death. The lamb and its saving blood are of course an image of Christ, the Lamb of God.
The Book of Levites 17: 11-12 recounts: For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood which makes atonement. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel; no person among you shall eat blood, nor shall any alien who resides among you eat blood.
Life is in the blood, this is the reason why to this day, Jews consider blood to be something sacred and don’t eat anything which contains it. This is opposed to certain indigenous tribes where, even today, people believe that they receive the strength and powers of their prey through drinking their blood, and so it is practised in religious ceremonies.
For us Christians, both of these points of view make a certain sense. Christ shed His blood for us on the cross, and through shedding His blood, He gave us life. Thus our life is in His Blood.
As the Litany of the Precious Blood reminds us: The Blood which fell upon the earth during His agony, the Blood which He shed profusely in the Scourging, the Blood flowing forth in the Crowning with Thorns, the Blood poured out on the Cross, the Blood which is the price of our salvation. Indeed, it is the same Blood of Christ which is present at every Mass. The same Blood we are given to drink.
In the Gospel of St John we read: (6:53-56) Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”
As there is a connection between the Feast of the Most Blessed Sacrament and Holy Thursday, so there is a connection between the feast of the Most Precious Blood and Good Friday.
Before Christ died on the Cross, he had to carry His cross to Calvary. At a certain point, Simon of Cyrene was ordered to help Him in the carrying of His cross. Is this not also a message to us? Does Christ not also ask us to take up our crosses and suffer with Him?
Like Pope Pius IX whom we mentioned above, Catholics have to suffer for their faith even in our days. We all remember Fr Jacques Hamel, who was murdered by Islamist extremists while he celebrated Mass in France, or Fr. Maksymilian Adam Świerżewski OFMConv. who was murdered for simply wearing his habit in Poland. These priests, who, when they offered the Holy Sacrifice of Mass, did so ‘in Persona Christi’ - in the person of Christ - were able to imitate Christ even in the shedding of their own blood.
Similarly a polish lay missionary, Ms Helena Kmieć was killed in Bolivia, and the recently beatified Sister Maria Laura Mainetti who was killed in a satanist ritual in Italy, or Saint Titus Brandsma and Blessed Michał Kozal who were killed for speaking out and resisting against the Nazis.
At this very moment, as you read this, courageous priests, religious brothers and sisters as well as laity take care of the homeless and wounded in and from Ukraine. Let us not forget about the courageous Benedictine sisters who stayed in their convent to pray and give shelter, although they could have fled the dangers of war.
The list of recent Martyrs and Confessors of the Faith is steadily growing, and could fill many volumes of this paper. It shouldn’t surprise us as Christ already told us: (John 15: 20-21) Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Slaves are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
That warning didn’t stop the martyrs mentioned above from doing good, which they all did in their own ways, in their own environments. That warning didn’t stop them from being an instrument of God’s love in the lives of those around them.
It didn’t stop them from speaking out against evil, from being missionaries, from simply living as Catholics in a hostile environment. Rather, it encouraged them to suffer in the Name of Christ, to share in His Passion.
There are those who say about the above examples that if they knew they were at risk, they were stupid to continue. They should have kept quiet, they should have left, they should have stopped or changed their activities. But what then have we learned from the sacrifice of Christ? True love and charity might require something greater than our minds can grasp, far greater than we can understand. Rather: far greater than the world can understand.
St Paul writes: (1 Corinthians 1: 23-25) But we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Some of the titles we use in the litany of the Precious Blood are: ‘Stream of Mercy’, ´Courage of martyrs’ ‘Strength of confessors’ ‘Peace and tenderness of hearts’.
May God grant us all the graces which He holds ready for us, may he strengthen and give courage to those who suffer for their faith, and may he bring peace and tenderness to all our hearts.
Blood of Christ, save us.