Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ

“Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers: But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.” (Pet. 1:18-19)

 

The Precious Blood of Our Lord is the charism of the Knights. According to the Traditional Catholic Calendar, July 1st is the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is an important feast day for us Knight’s, and it is most fitting that we attend Mass on this special day.

Meditation on Our Lord’s Precious Blood
by Fr. Johann Zollner (1883)

On this day, the Church celebrates the feast of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. That most sacred Blood is the price of our Redemption, and is poured out daily in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, whence It flows into the channels of the seven Sacraments, as an atonement for our sins and for our sanctification. For, as in Egypt, when God was propitiated by the blood of the paschal lamb (the type and figure of the true Lamb of God), so He is propitiated by the Blood of His Son, the true Paschal Lamb, which speaketh better than Abel’s. Herein is the strongest evidence of the infinite love of Jesus Christ, Who not only once, but seven times, shed His precious Blood amidst the most cruel sufferings for our salvation.

1. The first shedding of blood was at His Circumcision
2. The shedding of blood in the garden of Olives
3. Jesus is scourged. The four Evangelists narrate that Jesus was scourged
4. Jesus shed His blood the fourth time, when he was crowned with thorns
5. Jesus shed his blood the fifth time, carrying the cross
6. Jesus shed his blood the sixth time, when He was crucified
7. The seventh and last time Jesus shed His blood was when His side was opened

Thus Jesus shed His precious Blood seven times, and the price of these seven sheddings of blood is found in the seven Sacraments, by which we are cleansed from sin and sanctified. The covenant between God and the Israelites was sealed with blood. The new covenant was sealed with the precious Blood of Jesus Christ. The covenant between God and men is sealed again as many times as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered to God. Assist, whenever you can, at the tremendous Sacrifice of the Mass, and frequently receive Holy Communion.

Historical Development

The celebration of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus has a rich history within the Catholic tradition; the feast was instituted for the Universal Church in 1849. When Pope Pius IX went into exile at Gaeta (1849) he had as his companion the saintly Don Giovanni Merlini, third superior general of the Fathers of the Most Precious Blood. Arrived at Gaeta, Merlini suggested that His Holiness make a vow to extend the feast of the Precious Blood to the entire Church if he would again obtain possession of the papal dominions. The pope took the matter under consideration, but a few days later sent his domestic prelate Jos. Stella to Merlini with the message: “The pope does not deem it expedient to bind himself by a vow; instead His Holiness is pleased to extend the feast immediately to all Christendom”. This was 30 June, 1849, the day the French conquered Rome and the republicans capitulated. The thirtieth of June had been a Saturday before the first Sunday of July, wherefore the pope decreed (10 August, 1849) that henceforth every first Sunday of July should be dedicated to the Most Precious Blood. Later, Pope St. Pius X assigned July 1 as the fixed date for this celebration. source