Saint Gaspar del Bufalo Minibook

Title: Saint Gaspar del Bufalo
Authors: Bob and Penny Lord
Publisher: Journeys of Faith
Format: Printed minibook
28 Pages

Saint Gaspar del Bufalo

Family, we have a special Super Saint of the 19th century to share with you today, St. Gaspar del Bufalo. His shrine is all over Rome, but his body is venerated in the Church of Santa Maria in Trivio, about a block in back of the Fountain of Trevi.

At Ariccia, during the procession, a boy who was unable to walk without crutches, breaks away from his mother, clutches the Saint’s cassock and is cured.

When we mention the name, Gaspar del Bufalo to our brothers and sisters in the United States, most Americans know virtually nothing about him. And yet, he was a very powerful worker for the Lord. He is credited with many things, including being the founder of a Religious Order, the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood, which is very active in the United States, as well as all over the world. Gaspar stood up against the powers of hell, which in his day was Napoleon Bonaparte and his reign of terror. Gaspar was a thorn in the side of Napoleon and his cohorts during their occupation of Italy. He spent most of Napoleon’s time as ruler of Italy either in exile or jail. However, by 1815, Napoleon was gone, and Gaspar was there to pick up the pieces of a broken country, and a wounded Church. He was able to found the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood that same year.

Saint Gaspar del Bufalo was the Founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood

Gaspar stood up against the powers of evil, which in his day was Napoleon.

Apostle of the devotion to the Precious Blood, Gaspar was born in Rome on January 6,1786.  As a young priest, he was imprisoned for four years by Napoleon, because he would not sign an oath of loyalty.  His motto, which has become famous, is "I cannot; I must not; I will not."  After Napoleon's defeat, he returned to Rome iand in the year 1815 he founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.  As a devoted priest he revived the works of the apostolate in Rome and later became a dedicated missionary.  In his missionary travels of Italy he invited the faithful to reflect upon and to adore the Precious Blood of Christ.

Travel with us up and down Italy to Bologna, Rome, San Felice in Umbria, and Albano Laziale near Caster Gandolfo.  He was Beatified by St. Pius X in 1904 and canonized by Pius XII on June 12, 1954.  Blessed Pope John XXIII visited his Shrine in the Church of Santa Maria in Trivio on January 4, 1963, to ask his intercession and protection for Vatican Council II.