This feast, unlike many of the others in this series, actually made it into the Universal Calendar for a time, before being suppressed, like so many other treasures, in the liturgical reforms following the Second Vatican Council. Originally used solely by the Fathers of the Most Precious Blood, where it was assigned to the Friday after the Forth Sunday of Lent, it was celebrated on the same day in dioceses where it was adopted. In 1849, Pope Pius IX, driven out of Rome by insurrectionists, extended the Mass and Office to the Universal Church. The Sunday following his decree, the first Sunday of July, the insurrection at Rome was crushed, and so Pope Pius IX moved the Feast of the Precious Blood to the first Sunday in July in commemoration of that victory. Pope St. Pius X, in the course of his desire to bring back to prominence the Sundays of the year, moved the Feast to July 1st.
Either of these times are appropriate. The Friday after Laetare Sunday places the feast during the week that the Church commemorates the life of Moses in the Divine Office, and the founding of the numerous blood sacrifices of the Old Testament. It also places it right before Passiontide. As for the later date, July 1st is not only the first day of the Month dedicated to the Precious Blood, nor is it the Octave Day of St. John the Baptist, a descendant of the line of Aaron, but it is also, according to the Roman Martyrology, the feast day of St. Aaron himself, the very same first High Priest of the Old Testament.
Though this Feast does have Eucharistic themes, like Corpus Christi, it is far more focused on blood atonement, and the tragedy of Christ’s sacrifice for us. The liturgical reformers after Vatican 2 seemed to miss this aspect, thinking that simply adding the words “and Blood” to the name of Corpus Christi would make up for it’s suppression. A less charitable reading of events is that they knew precisely what this feast was about, and, filled with he spirit of the 1960’s, suppressed it because it contradicted their “theology.”
In any case, this remains one of the most beautiful Office and Mass in the Roman Rite. The entire thing can be read at Divinum Officium by setting the date to July 1st. I have given the Matins and Mass readings below.
Lessons at Matins
First Lesson
Lesson from the letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews (ix. 11)
But Christ, being come an high priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hand, that is, not of this creation: Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God? And therefore he is the mediator of the new testament: that by means of his death, for the redemption of those transgressions, which were under the former testament, they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Second Lesson
For where there is a testament, the death of the testator must of necessity come in. For a testament is of force, after men are dead: otherwise it is as yet of no strength, whilst the testator liveth. Whereupon neither was the first indeed dedicated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been read by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying: This is the blood of the testament, which God hath enjoined unto you. The tabernacle also and all the vessels of the ministry, in like manner, he sprinkled with blood. And almost all things, according to the law, are cleansed with blood: and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
Third Lesson (x. 19)
Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ; a new and living way which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and a high priest over the house of God: Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (for he is faithful that hath promised), and let us consider one another, to provoke unto charity and to good works.
Fourth Lesson
From the Sermons of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (Homily 84 in John, cap. 19) Wouldest thou hear the power of the Blood of Christ? Then let us look at the figure thereof, let us call to mind the old type, and tell the story written in the ancient Scriptures. The Egyptians would not let God take away Israel His firstborn, And Moses said: Thus saith the Lord: About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill, and all the first-born of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it anymore. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast that ye may know how that the Lord hath put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. (Ex. xi. 4-7.) Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them: Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood. and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. (xii. 21-23.) And could the blood of a sheep save a man Yea, in good sooth not because it was blood, but because it represented in a figure the Blood of the Lord.
Fifth Lesson
The statues of monarchs, mindless and speechless images though they be, have sometimes been an helpful refuge to men endowed with soul and reason, not because they are works of the brazier's skill, but because the likeness they bear is a King's. And just so did this unconscious blood deliver the lives of men, not because it was blood, but because it foreshadowed the shedding of the Blood of Jesus. On that night in Egypt, when the destroying Angel saw the blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, he passed over the door, and came not in unto the house. Even so now much more will the destroyer of souls flee away when he seeth, not the lintel and the two side-posts sprinkled with the blood of a lamb, but the mouth of the faithful Christian, the living dwelling of the Holy Ghost, shining with the blood of the True Messiah. If the Angel let the type be, how shall not the enemy quail before the Reality? Wouldest thou hear more of the power of that Blood I am willing. Consider from what source it welleth, from what fountain it springeth. Its fountain is the Heart of the Lord, pierced for us upon the Cross. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him but when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His Legs, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His Side, and forthwith came thereout Blood and Water, (John xix, 32-34), whereof One is a figure of Baptism, and the other of the Sacrament of the Altar. One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His Side the veil of the Temple of His Body was rent in twain. (John ii. 19-21, Matth. xxvii. 51.) O how glorious is the treasure that is laid open to me therein How noble the riches that it is my joy there to have found!
Sixth Lesson
And so was it done concerning that Lamb: the Jews killed a sheep, and I have learned the value of the sacrament. From the Side flowed forth Blood and Water. I would not, O my hearer, that thou shouldest pass by the depths of such a mystery as this without pausing; for I have yet a mystic and mysterious discourse to deliver. I have said that the Water and Blood shewed forth symbolically baptism and the sacraments. For from these, holy Church was founded by the laver of regeneration, and the renovation of the Holy Ghost. Through baptism, I say, and through the sacraments, which seem to have issued from his Side. It was therefore out of the Side of Christ that the Church was created, just as it was out of the side of Adam that Eve was raised up to be his bride. This is the reason why Paul saith, no doubt in allusion to his Side: We are members of his Body, and of his bones. For even as God made the woman Eve out of the rib which he had taken out of the side of Adam, so hath Christ made the Church out of the Blood and Water which he made to flow for us out of his own Side.
[The following was added to the sixth lesson after this Feast was assigned to the month of July:
On the occasion of the nineteenth centenary of the accomplishment of the redemption of mankind, as a fitting celebration of this ineffable blessing, Pope Pius XI decreed an extraordinary Jubilee. During that year the Supreme Pontiff, wishing that the fruits of the Precious Blood of Christ, the Lamb without spot, might redound more abundantly upon mankind and that the minds of the faithful be impressed with more vivid recollections of this same Blood as the price of their redemption, elevated the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ to the rank of a double of the first class, to be celebrated as such every year by the universal Church.]
Seventh Lesson
From the Holy Gospel according to John (John 19:30-35) At that time: When Jesus had received the vinegar, He said: It is finished. And He bowed His Head, and gave up the ghost. And so on. Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (120th Tract on John) One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His Side, and forthwith came thereout Blood and Water. The Evangelist speaketh carefully. He saith not that he smote the Side, nor yet that he wounded It, nor yet anything else, but pierced It, to fling wide the entrance unto life, whence flow the Sacraments of the Church, those Sacraments without which there is no entrance unto the life which is life indeed. That Blood which was shed there was shed for the remission of sins, that Water is the water that mantleth in the cup of salvation. Therein are we washed, and thereof do we drink. Of this was it a type when it was said unto Noah: The door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof and of every living thing of all flesh shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive. Gen. vi. 16, 19. A figure this of the Church. Thus was it that the first woman was made from the side of her husband while he slept, and she was called (Eve, which is, being interpreted,) Life, because she was the mother of all living. Gen. iii. 20. This name set forth a great good, before it became associated with the bitter fruit of a great evil. And here we have the Second Adam bowing His Head, and the deep sleep of death falling upon Him upon the Cross, and He sleepeth, that the Lord God may take a thing out of His side, and may make thereof a wife for Him. O what a death was His, which quickeneth the dead! What is cleaner than His Blood? What more health-giving than His wounding?
Eighth Lesson
Enarr. in Psalm 95, n. 5 Then were being held bondsmen to the devil, slaves to evil spirits. But they have been redeemed from that bondage. They had been able to sell themselves, but they were not able to redeem themselves. A Redeemer came and paid the price for them. He shed His Blood, and at that cost bought the world. Ye ask what He bought Look what He paid, and ye shall see what He bought. Christ's Blood was the price. What is His Blood worth? What, but the whole world What but all men They are very unthankful for His redemption, or very proud, who say that It is only precious enough to buy the Africans, or that they themselves are so precious that It was shed only for them. Let there be an end to such conceit, an end to such vainglory. What He paid, He paid for all.
Ninth Lesson (When Celebrated in July)
(Sermon 31, alias 344) That Blood was his own, and thereby he redeemed us. Yea, it was to this end that he took Flesh and Blood, namely that he might shed his Blood in order to redeem us. If thou wilt accept it, the Blood of thy Lord was given for thee. If thou wilt not accept it, it was not given for thee. For perchance thou sayest: My God had Blood, with which he redeemed me, but now since he hath suffered, he hath given it all; what hath remained to him, that he may also give any of it for me? This is a great thing, because he gave once, and he gave for all. The Blood of Christ is salvation to him that doth accept it, punishment to him that doth not accept it. Why therefore dost thou hesitate to be set free from the second death, thou who dost not wish to die? By this thou art set free, if thou art willing to take up thy Cross, and follow the Lord; for he took up his Cross and sought his servant.
Ninth Lesson (When Celebrated on the Friday before Passion Sunday)
Continuation of the Holy Gospel according to John (John 11:1-45) At that time, there was a certain man sick, named Lazarus, of Bethania, of the town of Mary and Martha her sister. And so on. Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. (49th Tract on John) Ye remember that in our last reading we learnt how that the Lord escaped out of the hands of them which took up stones to stone Him, and went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at first baptized. John x. 31, 39, 40- While, then, the Lord still tarried there, Lazarus was sick at Bethany, which was a town near to Jerusalem. It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His Feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore his sisters sent unto Him. We know already whither it was that they sent, for we know where Jesus was He was gone away again beyond Jordan. His sisters sent unto Him, saying: Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick, in order that, if He so pleased, He might come and free him from his sickness. But Jesus healed not, that He might afterward quicken.
What therefore sent his sisters to say? Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick and no more. They said not: Come, for Jesus loved him; and to tell Him that he was sick was enough. They dared not to say: Come, and heal him, they dared not to say: Speak the word where Thou art, and it shall be done here. And wherefore should they not have said this if they had the faith which won the Centurion so much praise? He had said: Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. (Matth. viii. 8.) But they said none of these things, only: Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick. It is enough that Thou shouldest know it. Thou art not one that lovest and leavest.
But some man will say: How shall Lazarus be a type of the sinner, and yet the Lord so love him? Let such an one hear the words of the same Lord, which He said: I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners. (Matth. ix. 13.) For if God had not loved sinners, He had not come down from heaven to earth. When Jesus heard that, He said: This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Such a glorification is no increase of majesty for Him, but of profit for us. He therefore meaneth to say: This sickness is not unto death, but for the working of a miracle, the which being wrought, if men will thereby believe in Christ, they shall escape the real death. Note especially how the Lord doth in this place declare Himself to be God, as it were by implication, for the sake of some which say that He is not the Son of God.
The Mass
Introit
(Apoc 5:9-10) You have redeemed us, O Lord, with Your Blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us for our God a kingdom. (Ps 88:2) The favors of the Lord I will sing forever; through all generations my mouth shall proclaim Your faithfulness. V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. R. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. You have redeemed us, O Lord, with Your Blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us for our God a kingdom.
Collect Almighty, eternal God, Who made Your only-begotten Son the Redeemer of the world, and willed to be reconciled by His Blood, grant us, we beseech You, so to worship in this sacred rite the price of our salvation, and to be so protected by its power against the evils of the present life on earth, that we may enjoy its everlasting fruit in heaven.
O God, Who by your wondrous sacraments renew the world, grant that Your church may benefit from Your eternal decrees and not be deprived of temporal help.
Lesson
Lesson from the letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews (Heb 9:11-15) Brethren: When Christ appeared as High Priest of the good things to come, He entered once for all through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation: nor again by virtue of blood of goats and calves, but by virtue of His own blood, into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkled ashes of a heifer sanctify the unclean unto the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, Who through the Holy Spirit offered Himself unblemished unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And this is why He is mediator of a new covenant, that whereas a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the former covenant, they who have been called may receive eternal inheritance according to the promise, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gradual
(1 John 5:6-8) This is He Who came in water and in blood, Jesus Christ; not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood. V. There are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three are one. (In July and votive Masses during the year, the following is added: Alleluia, alleluia. 1 John 5:9 V. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. Alleluia.)
Tract (During Septuagesima and Lent)
(Eph. 1: 6-8)
God hath graced us in His beloved Son: in whom we have redemption through His Blood.
V. The remission of sins, according to His grace, which hath superabounded in us.
V. Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus.
V. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood.
Greater Alleluia (During Paschaltide)
Alleluia, Alleluia.
(Apoc. 5:9)
V. Worthy art Thou, O Lord, to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: because Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God in Thy blood. Alleluia.
V. (Exod. 12:13.) And the blood shall be to you for a sign: and I shall see the blood and pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you. Alleluia.
Gospel
(John 19:30-35) At that time, when Jesus had taken the wine, He said, It is consummated! And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. The Jews, therefore, since it was the Preparation Day, in order that the bodies might not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a solemn day, besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other, who had been crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs; but one of the soldiers opened His side with a lance, and immediately there came out Blood and water. And he who saw it has borne witness, and his witness is true.
Credo
Offertory
(1 Cor. 10:16) The Cup of blessing that we bless, is it not the sharing of the Blood of Christ? And the Bread that we break, is it not the partaking of the Body of the Lord?
Secret
Through this divine rite, we beseech You, may we draw near to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and renew upon Your altar, O Lord of hosts, the sprinkling of blood more eloquent than that of Abel.
II. of the Feria
May the gifts we offer, O Lord, cleanse us, we beseech You, that You may be always merciful to us.
Preface of the Holy Cross
It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation, that we should in all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God. Who didst set the salvation of mankind upon the tree of the Cross, so that whence came death, thence also life might rise again, and that he who overcame by the tree might also be overcome on the tree; through Christ our Lord. Through whom the angels praise Thy majesty, the dominations adore, the powers are in awe, the virtues of highest heaven and the blessed seraphim unite in blissful exultation. With them we praise Thee; grant that our voices too may blend, saying in adoring praise:
Communion
(Heb 9:28) Christ was offered once to take away the sins of many; the second time with no part in sin He will appear unto the salvation of those who await Him.
Postcommunion Admitted to the sacred banquet, O Lord, we have drawn water in joy from the Savior’s fountain; may His Blood, we beseech You, become for us a fountain of water springing up unto life everlasting.
II. of the Feria
May the reception of this sacrament, we beseech You, O Lord, always free us from sin and protect us from all that works against us.
Last Gospel (of the Lenten Feria if celebrated in Lent)
(John 11:1-45) At that time, a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. The sisters therefore sent to Him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick. But when Jesus heard this, He said to them, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that through it the Son of God may be glorified. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister Mary, and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He remained two more days in the same place. Then afterwards He said to His disciples, Let us go again into Judea. The disciples said to Him, Rabbi, just now the Jews were seeking to stone You; and do You go there again? Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if he walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. These things He spoke, and after this He said to them, Lazarus, our friend, sleeps. But I go that I may wake him from sleep. His disciples therefore said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will be safe. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought He was speaking of the repose of sleep. So then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead; and I rejoice on your account that I was not there, that you may believe. But let us go to him. Thomas, who is called the Twin, said therefore to his fellow-disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with Him. Jesus therefore came and found him already four days in the tomb. Now Bethany was close to Jerusalem, some fifteen stadia distant. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them on account of their brother. When, therefore, Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him. But Mary remained at home. Martha therefore said to Jesus, Lord, if You had been here my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You shall ask of God, God will give it to You. Jesus said to her, Your brother shall rise. Martha said to Him, I know that he will rise at the resurrection, on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, even if he die, shall live; and whoever lives and believes in Me, shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, Who have come into the world. And when she had said this, she went away and quietly called Mary her sister, saying, The Master is here and calls you. As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and came to Him, for Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him. When, therefore, the Jews who were with her in the house and were comforting her, saw Mary rise up quickly and go out, they followed her, saying, She is going to the tomb to weep there. When, therefore, Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell at His feet, and said to him, Lord, if You had been her, my brother would not have died. When, therefore, Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her weeping, He groaned in spirit and was troubled, and said, Where have you laid him? They said to Him, Lord, come and see. And Jesus wept. The Jews therefore said, See how He loved him. But some of them said, Could not He Who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that this man should not die? Jesus therefore, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stone was laid against it. Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, Lord, by this time he is already decayed, for he is dead four days. Jesus said to her, Have I not told you that if you believe you shall behold the glory of God? They therefore removed the stone. And Jesus, raising His eyes, said, Father, I give You thanks that You have heard Me. Yet I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people who stand round, I spoke, that they may believe that You have sent Me. When He had said this, He cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! And at once he who had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with bandages, and his face was tied up with a cloth. Jesus said to them, Unbind him, and let him go. Many therefore of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen what He did, believed in Him.
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