Gaspar del Bufalo

Infobox Saint
name=Saint Gaspar del Bufalo
birth_date=January 6, 1786
death_date=December 28, 1837
feast_day=December 28 [Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 88-209-7210-7)]
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church


imagesize=200px
caption=
birth_place=Rome
death_place=Rome
titles=Confessor
beatified_date=
beatified_place=
beatified_by=
canonized_date=June 12, 1954
canonized_place=Rome
canonized_by=Pope Pius XII
attributes=
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major_shrine=
suppressed_date=
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Saint Gaspar del Bufalo (January 6, 1786 - December 28, 1837) (also known as Gaspare del Bufalo) was a Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.

Life

Gaspar del Bufalo was born in Rome, the son of a cook who was employed by the Altieri family, whose palace was across from the Church of the Gesù in Rome. Especially through the influence of his mother, Annunziata, he became greatly devoted to Saint Francis Xavier, a relic of which saint is prominently displayed on an altar of the Gesù. He was ordained to the priesthood in the diocese of Rome in 1808. Along with the 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, but, in view of the needs of the time and in response to Pius VII, he engaged in the ministry of preaching and founded, facing considerable difficulties, a society of priests to carry on his work, 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 gave 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.

Veneration

Saint Gaspar del Bufalo was canonized by Pope Pius XII on June 12, 1954. His feast day, as indicated in the Roman Martyrology, is on the day of his death, December 28, but has not been included in the General Roman Calendar.

References

*Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. "The Penguin Dictionary of Saints," 3rd edition, New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.

External links

*it icon [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/35900 "San Gaspare del Bufalo"]
*CathEncy|wstitle=Blessed Gaspare del Bufalo