ST. GASPARDEL BUFALO

Founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood

A Saint in Motion

It is necessaryto send

out workerseverywhere,so that the earthwill be cleansedin the DivineBlood.”

- St. Gaspardel Bufalo

St. Gaspar del Bufalo:A Saint in Motion

is produced by the Cincinnati Province of the Missionariesof the Precious Blood. The Missionaries of the PreciousBlood is a religious society of priests, brothers and layassociates founded in 1815 by St. Gaspar del Bufalo. Societymembers work as missionaries in parishes in the U.S. andabroad, in education and in a wide range of apostolates,promoting the cause of God’s reconciliation worldwidethrough the ministry of the Word of God.

For more information about our Congregation, pleasevisit our website at http://cpps-preciousblood.org orcontact the Cincinnati Province of the Missionaries of thePrecious Blood, 431 E. Second St., Dayton, OH, 45402-1764(phone 937-228-9263).

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ST.GASPARDELBUFALO: A Saint inMotion

Canonization banner ofSt. Gaspar del Bufalo.

In manyparishesaround the

world served byMissionaries ofthe Precious

Blood, there is a painting orstatue of St. Gaspar delBufalo, the founder of theMissionaries of the PreciousBlood. But anyone who everpainted his portrait orsculpted his image got itwrong, because none of theimages of St. Gaspar aremoving.

The little saint was adynamo, a rushing river ofnew ideas, a perpetual motionmachine. Although prayerempowered everything hedid, his was not a monasticlife, contemplative and silent.He was always happiest whenhe was out among thechildren of God, whether theywere devout Catholics orthose who had never heardthe Word.

Born on the Feast of theEpiphany, January 6, 1786, inRome, Gaspar Melchior

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Balthazar del Bufalo wasnamed after the three Magiwho visited the Christ child. Itwas an apt name for a manwho would spend his life on aquest to fulfill the will of God,constantly on the move as amissionary.

He was raised in thebustle and activity of the

Eternal Cityby his father,a failedentrepreneurwho haddabbled inthe theaterand inprofessionalsoccer (evenin thosedays, therewereprofessionalsportsteams), andhis mother, adevout anddevotedwoman whoheld thefamily

together. When Gaspar wasstill a young boy, the familymoved to the Palazzo Altieri,in the heart of Rome, so thatGaspar’s father could take ajob as a cook for a family withroyal connections.

Gaspar always knew hiscalling. While still a 17-year-old student at the CollegioRomano, Gaspar was alreadypreaching and teaching in hisparish, where somecomplained that theseminarian was oversteppinghis bounds.

“Seminarian del Bufalodoes better than I” inpreaching, the pastor serenelyreplied.

While Gaspar waslearning, he was also active inseveral ministries. He visitedthe sick and the poor, oftenstopping at a bakery first tobuy a sweet treat to sharewith them. He offeredconstant encouragement toothers, and founded a youngpersons’ religiousorganization whose membersprayed and did charitablework together. He had thegift, said one of hisbiographers, Amilcar Rey, ofmultiplying time, “of forcinghis day to expand to includeeverything his busy mindcould imagine.”

Gaspar was ordained in1808, and soon after formedan evening society for thelaborers and farm workerswho came into Rome from thecountryside to sell theirwares. He wanted to bring

“I cannot,I mustnot and Iwill not,”St. Gaspar

said to the

Napoleonic

government,

as he refused

to sign an

oath of

allegiance.

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them back to the Church, andto show those who slept in thestreets of Rome that they hadvalue.

Soon after, he faced hisfirst crisis as Napoleon sweptinto power in the Papal States.The anti-clerical Napoleonicgovernment was demandingthat priests sign an oath ofallegiance to Napoleon. “Icannot, I must not and I willnot,” Gaspar replied. Hisdeclaration began four yearsof exile and imprisonment.Even the pope, Pius VII, wasforced from Rome at the sametime.

During that time of exile,Gaspar’s beloved motherdied, which addedimmeasurably to his misery.Away from home, unsureabout his future, unable tocontinue in the ministries thatmeant so much to him,Gaspar struggled againstdespair.

It was a defining time inhis young life as a man and asa priest, writes Italian authorMario Spinelli, who authoreda 1996 biography of the saint.“Life would not be stingywith trials for Gaspar,”Spinelli writes. “But thatmoment was surely theseverest, and his soul was toemerge forged and brilliant,

To Learn MoreAboutSt. Gaspar

A more detailed story of thelife of St. Gaspar, founder of theMissionaries of the PreciousBlood, can be found in thebiography No Turning Back, byMario Spinelli (Fr. John Klopke,C.PP.S., translator).

The work wascommissioned by the ItalianProvince of the Missionaries ofthe Precious Blood. Fr. RobertSchreiter, C.PP.S., and Fr.Raymond Cera, C.PP.S., editedthe English version.

No Turning Back is availablefor $8 plus $3 shipping andhandling from the PreciousBlood Resource Center, St.Charles Center, 2860 U.S. 127,Carthagena, Ohio, 45822.

A daily calendar featuringthe writings of St. Gaspar, St.Gaspar del Bufalo: Our DailyCompanion, compiled by theModerator General, Fr. BarryFischer, C.PP.S. is also available,for $10 plus $3 shipping andhandling.

The images of St. Gaspar inthis publication were takenfrom Saint Gaspar Del Bufalo inthe Arts, by Fr. Milton Ballor,C.PP.S., also available from theResource Center, for $30 plus$3 shipping and handling.

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ready for an undertakingwithout limits in the service ofGod, the Church, his brethrenand his own sanctification.”

In 1814, with Napoleon’srule over, the Pope returned toRome, and Gaspar with him.He threw himself into the newwork of preaching missionswith his friend, Don GaetanoBonanni, who had formed asociety of preachers called theGospel Workers.

While preaching a missionin the town of Giano with theGospel Workers, Gaspar sawfor the first time the Abbey ofSan Felice (St. Felix), whichhad been used thenabandoned by theBenedictines and theAugustinians during its longlife. With its beautiful andserene setting, it was, he

thought, the perfect home forthe new missionary society hefelt driven to form.

Of course, an abandoned10th century monasterywould be a money pit, andGaspar faced his share oftemporal problems in fixing itup, getting the money to runit, and dealing with the localbishop, who wasn’t sure hewanted this new congregationin his midst. With the help oflocal people, Gaspar himselflaid brick and whitewashedwalls.

Even his close friends inthe priesthood did notnecessarily want to followhim to Giano, Spinelli writes:“It was one thing to givemissions then return home (toRome). It was quite anotherthing to become full-timeapostolic militants, likesoldiers chosen to be stationedin an advance post withendless territories to defendor reconquer, as Gasparwanted.”

But he would not bediscouraged. And on Aug. 15,1815, to the music of pealingbells, and with thecountryfolk who had helpedhim by his side, Gasparopened the first house of hisnew Congregation of theMissionaries of the Most

ST. GASPAR’S FEASTDAY IS OCTOBER 21

Precious Blood (C.PP.S.).There were only four of

them, including Gaspar. Buttheir good works soonspread through what is nowcentral Italy, as theypreached mission aftermission, lighting fires offaith among the people inthe countryside. In thosedays a mission would lasttwo weeks, opening withthe bishop or hisrepresentative meeting theC.PP.S. missionaries at theedge of town.

They would thenprocess to the villagechurch with all the peoplefollowing, accompanied bythe sound of ringing churchbells. During the day, themissionaries would stationthemselves in a popularpiazza in town, drawingattention to the mission. Atnight they would preach,offering special sessions toworking men, and religionlessons to the children. Theyvisited the sick and thoseimprisoned, so that the Wordwould be carried to all. It wasan all-out, ambitious effort, socharacteristic of the little saint.

In the years that followed,he opened new houses for hismissionaries, 15 in hislifetime, and saw his

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Throughout hislife Gasparstruggled

with poor healthand an anxiousspirit. Underneathhis iron convictions,Gaspar was afearful man.

Stained glass window of St. Gaspar at OurLady of Good Counsel Church, Cleveland.

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Statue of St. Gaspar protecting the victims of violence,located on a hillside outside the village of Patrica, Italy.

congregation grow. Hestepped forward when thecountryside fell into the gripof bandits who robbed andmurdered at will, negotiatinga peace with the banditi andsaving the town of Sonnino,whose people still claimGaspar as their personal saint(Pope Pius VII had threatenedto raze the town, which hadbecome the bandits’headquarters, but Gasparbegged for the chance to try tosave it).

The way was not easy forGaspar. He was oftenthreatened, both emotionally

and physically, by those in theanti-clerical movement of theday. They printed pamphletsoutlining arguments againsthis preaching and plasteredthe towns where he hadplanned a mission withmocking posters that cast themissionaries as a comictheater troupe.

Gaspar faced otherproblems as well. He wantedhis congregation to livemodestly, but many timesmoney was too tight andGaspar did not know how hewas going to feed his growingflock. “Lord, give us your

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grace and some smallchange,” Gaspar would pray,as sporadic income trickledinto the C.PP.S. houses.

He also had to deal withthe problems that come alongwith leading any group ofpeople – fractious,opinionated, discontentedpeople can be found in areligious society too. Fellowpriests not a part of hiscongregation accused him ofpride, hypocrisy andambition. Even popesquestioned Gaspar harshlyand often about the sincerityand purpose of hisCongregation.

Through it all, he inspiredothers to follow him, alwaysexpanding his circle. Early on,the Congregation included laybrothers. Also, through thepreaching of Gaspar, a youngwoman named Maria deMattias was moved by thespirituality of the PreciousBlood to found the SisterAdorers of the Blood of Christin Acuto, Italy, in 1834 (Mariawas canonized in 2003).

Gaspar accomplished somuch, and he did it with solittle – throughout his life hestruggled with poor healthand an anxious spirit.Underneath his ironconvictions, Gaspar was a

fearful man whose missionarywork ran counter to hismeekness. Gaspar sufferedfrom insomnia all his life. Hespent his sleepless nightswriting or praying, stretchedout on his bed with his eyeswide open in the dark.

From this physically frail,emotionally charged little mancame great things, andthrough him, his followerssaid, God worked manymiracles. There was about himan air of one who lives withhis eyes on heaven. As heprayed, other members of hisCongregation said they wouldsee the light of heaven abouthim; if Gaspar was praying inhis room, the light generatedby his conversation with Godwould shine through thecracks in his door. Gasparpreached with a fervor andintensity that convinced thosewho heard him that they weretruly listening to a man ofGod. “There was more to itthan words,” said his firstsuccessor in the C.PP.S., DonBiagio Valentini.

Gaspar died on Dec. 28,1837, in Rome, where he hadspent the previous summerministering to those affectedby an epidemic of cholera.The physician who examinedhim said Gaspar died a victim

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of charity, worn out from hiswork for others.

The cause for hissainthood began just twoyears after his death. Gasparwas beatified in 1904, and, in1954, with Missionaries fromaround the world gathered inSt. Peter’s Square, he wascanonized by Pope Pius XII.

Gaspar’s work continuesthrough his Missionariesthroughout the world,through the lay people whostudy his life and through allthose who pray to him for

support and guidance.Gaspar never turned back.Weakened by ailments, calleda fanatic or a fool by peoplewho should have supportedhim, imprisoned andimpoverished, challenged atevery turn, his answer toGod’s call was always yes.His followers continue to turnto him for inspiration, as theyfulfill the wish he onceexpressed: “I wish that I couldhave a thousand tongues toendear every heart to thePrecious Blood of Jesus.”

The tomb of St. Gaspar, in Santa Maria in Trivio Church, Rome.

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St. Gaspar’s message andhis ceaseless devotion tothe Precious Blood of

Jesus remain relevant to theMissionaries and to the peoplethey serve still today, said Fr.Angelo Anthony, C.PP.S. thedirector of the CincinnatiProvince of the Missionaries ofthe Precious Blood.

“When I think of theimpact the life of St. Gaspar canhave in our own day, I recallsomething that Fr. RaymondCera, C.PP.S., wrote concerningthe scope of St. Gaspar’s visionof the Precious Blood: ‘ForGaspar the Blood of Jesus wasnot merely a “devotion” (likeso many others) but thecompendium of our wholereligious creed, the secure wayto obtain personal sanctity, theyeast that would ferment all ofsociety, the real stimulus forany apostolic activity,’” Fr.Anthony said.

No other cure for theworld’s troubles has comeforward since the time ofGaspar, Fr. Anthony said. Jesus’endless stance of forgivenessand his call to each of hispeople to live a life of serviceremain a beacon to all

Christians, as they were to St.Gaspar.

“When there are so manyvoices in the world todaycalling out for our attention;when there are so many abusesagainst the sacredness of life;when there are so many peoplelooking for healing and hopeand a true and lasting peace,the Precious Blood of Jesus isoffered to us each day as thefoundation and focus of ourlives,” Fr. Anthony said.

“Who of us does not standin fear at the disturbing reportsthat we hear night after nighton the evening news? TheBlood of Christ is that anchorwhich helps us to put thingsinto perspective and keeps usfrom being tossed aboutaimlessly in the storms of life.

“I have heard it said thatour primary vocation asChristians is to be people ofhope. St. Gaspar knew this atthe depths of his heart, notgiving up on anyone, for themercy of God knows no end.Each of us, whose lives havebeen stained in the Blood ofChrist, is called to be an anchorof hope, a beacon of truth, aharbor for the weary.”

St. Gaspar’s Message Still Resonates

The Missionaries of thePrecious Blood today

C.PP.S. priests, brothersand lay associates who followthe example set by St. Gasparwork around the world tobring God’s love to Hispeople. Their devotion to thePrecious Blood of Jesus callsthem to hear the cry of thoseon the margins of our society.

If you would like to learn more about how you canhelp our Congregation in our many ministries,please contact the Office of Mission Advancement,937-228-9263, mission@cpps-preciousblood.org, or visitour website:

http://cpps-preciousblood.org

(C.PP.S. stands for the Congregatio Pretiosissimi Sanguinis,the Latin name of the Congregation.)