Saint Gaspar

Prayer

Most loving Saint Gaspar, by that tender affection which you always cherished for the mystery of our redemption, and by that ardent zeal with which you gave yourself to the conversion of sinners, and the salvation of souls, obtain for us from the Lord, we beseech you, a spirit of true penance; so that wholly cleansed in the Blood of Jesus Christ, we may be saved and may receive those graces which through your intercession we humbly implore. (Here, mention your request.)

Eternal Father we offer you the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins, in supplication for the holy souls in purgatory, and for the needs of the Holy Church.

Feast Day is October 21

Apostle of the Devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

Gaspar del Bufalo was born in Rome. He was the son of a cook employed by the Altieri family, whose palace was across from the Church of the Gesù in Rome. Through the influence of his mother, Annunziata, he became greatly devoted to Saint Francis Xavier, whose relic is prominently displayed on an altar of the Gesù. He was ordained to the priesthood in the diocese of Rome in 1808. Along with other clergy who refused to take the oath of allegiance to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1808 after the deportation of Pope Pius VII, he was sent into exile to northern Italy. Upon his return to Rome in 1814, he considered joining the Jesuits, who had recently been reestablished. However, in view of the needs of the time and in response to Pius VII, he engaged in the ministry of preaching and founded, despite facing considerable difficulties, a society of priests, the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, at the abbey of San Felice in Giano, Umbria, in 1815.

Until his death on 28 December 1837, he worked tirelessly to re-evangelize central Italy, especially the Papal States. He was well known for his eloquence in preaching, his devotion to the poor (especially the Santa Galla Hospice in Rome), and his work with the brigands of southern Lazio.

His missionary efforts were extremely dramatic. One contemporary, the Passionist priest and bishop Saint Vincent Strambi, described his preaching as being “like a spiritual earthquake.” He was also a friend of Saint Vincent Pallotti, founder of the Pallotines, who assisted at Gaspar’s deathbed. He is particularly known for his devotion to the Precious Blood of Christ and for spreading this devotion during his lifetime.

He had a significant influence on St. Maria De Mattias, foundress of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ (A.S.C.), although it was C.PP.S. Missionary Venerable John Merlini who was most directly associated with St. Maria in establishing her congregation.

He had given his last mission in Rome at the Chiesa Nuova in 1837. Although in ill health, he returned to Rome from the Missionaries’ house in Albano in the fall of 1837 to minister to the sick during the cholera outbreak. He returned to Albano but returned again at the suggestion of Cardinal Franzoni, the cardinal protector of the Congregation, in December 1837. He died in an apartment in the Teatro di Marcello on 28 December 1837.

His funeral was held in Rome at the church of Sant’Angelo in Pescheria, near the Teatro di Marcello, and he was buried in Albano. Later, his body was transferred to the house of the Missionaries on the Via dei Crociferi in Rome (Santa Maria in Trivio), where it remains today.

http://www.stisaac.org/isaacarticles.htm