Pope St. John XXIII and the Precious Blood

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On this latest Sacred Heart Friday post, I delve into Pope St. John XXIII and his promotion of the Precious Blood Devotion.

 

In 1960, he wrote the apostolic letter Inde a Primis, encouraging devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus. In it he describes the devotion over the centuries including some personal accounts of how important this devotion was to him as a child and later in life. In that same year, the Holy Father added the invocation to the Precious Blood to the Divine Praises:

Blessed be God.

Blessed be his holy Name.

Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.

Blessed be the name of Jesus.

Blessed be his most Sacred Heart.

Blessed be his most Precious Blood.

Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.

Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.

Blessed be her glorious Assumption.

Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.

Blessed be St Joseph, her spouse most chaste.

Blessed be God in his Angels and in his Saints.

 

This wasn’t enough for Good Pope John. The Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ was drawn up by the Sacred Congregation of Rites and promulgated by Pope John XXIII on February 24, 1960. The  devotion to Jesus in His most Precious Blood was first popularized by St. Gaspar del Bufalo who founded the Missioners of the Most Precious Blood. St. Gaspar del Bufalo was hailed by Pope John XXIII as “the world’s greatest apostle of the devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus.”

 

Here is the Litany:

 

Lord, have mercy.    Lord, have mercy. 
Christ, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy. 
Lord, have mercy.    Lord, have mercy. 

Christ, hear us. Christ, hear us. 
Christ, graciously 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 Spirit, 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 or God, save us. 
Blood of Christ, of the New and Eternal Testament, save us. 

Blood of Christ, falling upon the earth in 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 honor, save us. 

Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord. 
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord. 
Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, have mercy on us, O Lord. 

V. Thou hast redeemed us, O Lord, in Thy Blood. 
R. And made us, for our God, a kingdom. 

Let us pray; 

Almighty and eternal God, Thou hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world and willed to be appeased by his blood. Grant, we beg of Thee, that we may worthily adore this price of our salvation and through its power be safeguarded from the evils of the present life so that we may rejoice in its fruits forever in heaven.

 
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. 

 

That’s it for this week’s Sacred Heart Friday; next week I’ll come up with something else, perhaps a bit on St. Gaspar del Bufalo and his work.

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