Most Precious Blood

The Most Precious Blood (*Pretiosissimus Sanguis*) is a devotion centered on the blood shed by Jesus Christ during His Passion for the redemption of humanity. While devotion to Christ's blood has roots in Scripture and the early Church, it developed as a distinct devotion in the Middle Ages, especially following Eucharistic miracles such as those at Lanciano (8th century) and Walldürn (1330). St. Gaspar del Bufalo (1786–1837) became the great apostle of the Precious Blood in modern times, founding the Missionaries of the Precious Blood in 1815. Pope Pius IX established the universal feast of the Precious Blood on the first Sunday of July in 1849, later fixed to July 1. Though the feast was removed from the universal calendar in 1969, the devotion continues, especially at Eucharistic pilgrimage sites where miraculous corporals or hosts bearing bloodstains are venerated. The principal shrines of the Precious Blood include Walldürn in Germany (site of the 1330 Blood Miracle), Bruges in Belgium (Holy Blood Basilica), and Weingarten in Germany. These sites preserve relics and miraculous corporals that draw pilgrims seeking deeper devotion to Christ's sacrifice. As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in his hymn *Adoro Te Devote*: "Blood that but one drop of has the power to win all the world forgiveness of its world of sin."