July 7, 2024
As we know the month of July is devoted to the Precious Blood and it follows on the heels of June which is the month of the Sacred Heart. As many of us might not remember why July is dedicated to the precious Blood, a quick reminder would be helpful. It finds its beginnings with the feast of the Precious Blood in the years 1849-1850 when the Italian states were revolting against the papal rule and Pope Pius IX was driven out of Rome by the revolutionaries. He escaped in the disguise of a regular priest to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The revolution was not merely political, it also was spurred on by the involvement of the freemasons in Italy who were desirous of destroying the Church. That is a well-documented fact. What better way to do that than drive the pope from the seat of the Church, the place where St. Peter gave his life, the place that Christ had called him to? After the driving out of the Pope from Rome, there was an attempt to set up a new country called “the Republic of Rome”. At its heart it was an anti-Catholic idea and system that would later cause the complete overthrow of the papal states and the creation of the new country of Italy. “A Roman Republic was declared in February 1849. The Pope responded from his exile by excommunicating all active participants. The Republic was openly hostile to the Catholic Church, celebrating Good Friday with huge fireworks on Saint Peter's Plaza and desecrating Saint Peter's Basilica on Easter Sunday with a secular Republican victory celebration.” (Schmidlin, Josef. Papstgeschichte. Munich: Köstel-Pusztet.(1934))
We see in this behavior echoes of the same intentions behind the revolution in France 50 years before this, the desecration of churches and persecution of religious and the suffering of faithful Catholics. At this point in time however, France had begun to correct many of the excesses and mistakes of the revolution and the faith had begun to flourish again - although it would never reach the level it had prior. It was France who came to the aid of the pope at this time, for mostly political reasons, as they didn’t want the unrest to cause them problems. They defeated the new “Republic of Rome” and so allowed the return of the pope.
By 1860 all the papal territories in Italy besides Rome were lost and in 1870 France went to war with Prussia so they recalled their armies back from Rome and then the revolutionaries entered into Rome and took over the city. “Catholic convents, churches and hospitals were seized for barracks, government offices and stables. While the person of the sovereign Pontiff was solemnly declared sacred and inviolable, the residence of Pius IX was surrounded by armed soldiers, who would not permit the Pope to show himself in public.” (Shea, John Gilmary (1877). The Life of Pope Pius IX. New York). Pope Pius IX declared that he was now a prisoner being held in the Vatican and that the government soldiers would not allow him to leave Vatican territory. He died in 1878 at the age of 85. He is now Blessed Pope Pius IX after he was beatified in year 2000.
The feast of the Precious Blood was first proposed during his exile and when he was able to return to Rome in 1850, he instituted the feast of the Precious Blood of Jesus on the first Sunday in July. The feast was later moved to July 1st by St. Pope Pius X. It was on the Church calendar until 1969, and it was removed when the calendar was reformed (or butchered would be the word I would use to accurately describe what they did) after Vatican 2. As you can see, I am still pretty sore about this. We lost a large number of beautiful feast days from the calendar for no particularly good reason and great harm was done to the devotional life of the Church and the faithful by this.
So, with that being said, we can hopefully understand some of the trials and sufferings our Church has undergone up until today at the hands of politics and policies and people which seek to remove God and the Faith from society and from those within the Church herself who cooperate and even support such things. And we now have an idea how July came to be the month dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus. What special prayers will we add to our daily ritual to celebrate this? Look up the Litany of the Precious Blood if you would like to have a prayer devoted particularly to the Blood of Christ.
Precious Blood of Jesus, Save us!
God love you Fr. Anthony
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