Happy Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus!

A most blessed and joyful feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus! Devotion to the Precious Blood goes back to the very foundations of the Church, the divine Blood of Christ shed upon the Cross always recognized by Her as the price paid for man’s redemption. Prefigured by the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament, the Blood of the Lamb and Its power to purify us from sin are discussed innumerable times in the Epistles of the New Testament. And not only was Christ’s Blood shed once for all, but It also becomes present on our altars in every Mass and is received by us in every Holy Communion.

The current feast, with origins in the 16th century, was extended to the universal Church in 1849. Blessed Pope Pius IX had been forced to flee from Rome to Gaeta in 1848 due to violence in the city from nationalist forces, and on Saturday, June 30th, 1849, the day that Rome was liberated by French troops, he declared that the Feast of the Precious Blood should be celebrated by all of Christendom. In August of the same year, he placed the feast on the first Sunday of July, and this was later adjusted to be the 1st of July by Pope St. Pius X.

Just like in 1849, this year the 1st happens to fall on a Sunday, and as a first class feast supersedes the Mass of the Sunday – and recalls that momentous weekend 169 years ago when Pio Nono gave the entire Church this glorious feast.

We wish a happy patronal feast day to Most Precious Blood Parish, our apostolate in Tulsa, Oklahoma!