The Most Precious Blood
of Jesus

Dear {{name}},

The Church gives every month of the year a treasure to gaze upon, and to July she gives the greatest price ever paid for love of us: the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. Where June opened His Sacred Heart to us, July gathers the very Blood that flowed from it — the ransom of the world, poured out to the last drop.

“You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver,” Saint Peter reminds us, “but with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb unspotted and undefiled” (1 Peter 1:18–19). Every drop is infinite in worth, for it is the Blood of God. What joy, then, to spend a whole month at the foot of the Cross, giving thanks!

A little of the story

How the Church came to keep this month

The devotion is as old as Calvary itself — born the moment a soldier’s lance opened Our Lord’s side and “there came out blood and water.” But its great modern apostle was Saint Gaspar del Bufalo (1786–1837), a Roman priest who, in 1815, founded the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood. In the lawless hills of a countryside torn apart after Napoleon, Gaspar preached the Blood of Christ with such fire that hardened brigands laid down their weapons and were reconciled to God.

A generation later, Blessed Pope Pius IX — then driven into exile at Gaeta — vowed that if he were restored to Rome he would give this feast to the whole Church. He kept his word: in 1849 the Feast of the Most Precious Blood was extended to the universal Church and fixed on the 1st of July. And so July has belonged to the Precious Blood ever since.

A practice for July

Let us not pass this month by! Pray the Litany of the Most Precious Blood, or lift up through the day this simple offering: “Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, in reparation for my sins and for the needs of Holy Church.” A single loving glance at the Crucifix can do more than we know.

News from the Comitium

Legio Mariae Podcast — Episode II is out now! Our young podcast — the world’s first English-language podcast dedicated entirely to the Legion of Mary — returns with its second conversation. This time we sit down with Richard Harrington, a fellow legionary of the Our Lady Queen of Apostles Praesidium: a Catholic publisher, writer and educator who left County Meath to make his home in Belfast. In “His Life, in His Own Words” he shares his story, his testimony, and what a life given to Christ through Mary really looks like today.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube, or listen on Spotify in two parts — whichever you love best. Open the episode page →

► Watch on YouTube

♫ Listen on Spotify

An Invitation

Could Our Lady be calling you?

The Legion of Mary is a path to holiness through prayer and joyful service under Mary’s banner. Give an hour a week as an active member, or uphold the work through prayer as an auxiliary member — there is a place at the table for you, and a warm welcome waiting at a praesidium near you.

Come and See — Find a Praesidium →

Curious first? Learn about membership →

Redemísti nos, Dómine, in sánguine tuo.

You have redeemed us, O Lord, in your Blood. · Through Mary, to the Heart and Blood of Jesus.

With our prayers and yours,

The Immaculata Comitium
Legion of Mary — Diocese of Down and Connor

❤ Support this apostolate in Down & Connor

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Legio Mariae

Through Mary to Jesus

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This letter goes out on the first of every month — a Marian reflection, a word from the Handbook, and news of the Legion in Down and Connor.

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The Most Precious Bloodof Jesus

A practice for July

News from the Comitium

The Most Precious Blood
of Jesus