Gaspar del Bufalo

Gaspare del Bufalo ( born January 6, 1786 in Rome, † December 28, 1837 in Rome) is the founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood ( CPPS ). He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

Journey

Ordained a priest in 1808, Gaspare del Bufalo was, though canons, worked as a missionary people. Because of its pastoral and socio-political involvement he was partially attacked.

Between 1809 and 1810, after Napoleon Bonaparte had occupied Rome, refused del Bufalo out of loyalty to Pope Pius VII and the Catholic Church, to swear an oath of allegiance to the Emperor. ( "I can not, I can not, I will not," was his laconic comment. ) He followed the fate of his Pope and was initially forced into exile in Piacenza and then imprisoned in Bologna, Imola and Lugo in jail. Only after four years he was able to return to Rome; where he worked again for the renewal of faith in the people and clergy of the Papal States.

" He reconciled feuding families and fought for the wild brigands. These were families, but especially men, who fled from Napoleon's military service in the mountains and lived there from raids, looting and extortion. His struggle with the Pope and curia in Rome owes an entire city - that den of thieves ' Sonnino - that she was not burned. "

Gaspare del Bufalo in 1815 founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood as a people and missionaries supported in 1834 the foundation of the Congregation of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ by Maria de Mattias.

The aided by him worship of " the Precious Blood of Christ " is not directed at host miracle or blood relics, but to the Eucharistic species. The Feast of the Precious Blood, 1849 extended to the whole Church, and celebrated on July 1, was abolished as a duplication of Corpus Christi as part of the liturgical reform, as a pan- religious holiday. In the Order, it remained.

Gaspare del Bufalo died on December 28, 1837 during a cholera epidemic in Rome and was buried in the church of Santa Maria in Trivio. On 18 December 1905 he was beatified and on 12 June 1954 by Pope Pius XII. canonized. His confessor was Vincenzo Pallotti, also popular missionary, founder of the Union of Catholic Apostolate, the SAC and the Apostolate.

Offices of the Congregation he founded there in Europe, the USA, Central and South America ( eg Brazil with the famous Indio Bishop Erwin Kräutler ), Tanzania and India.

Works

• Scritti di san Gaspare del Bufalo spirituali (1786-1837) fonda gates dei Missionari del Sangue Preziosissimo. Edited by Beniamino Conti. Rome 1995 ff
• Epistolario Gaspare del Bufalo di San, fonda gates dei Missionari del Sangue Preziosissimo. Edited by Beniamino Conti, 10 vols, Rome from 1986 to 1993.