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tides ■which instantly lost their union to the Word and became holy relics to be venerated but not adored. Some such particles may have adhered and yet adhere to the instruments of the Passion, e. g. nails, scourging pillar, Scala Saricta. Several places like Saintes, Bruges, Mantua etc. claim, on the strength of ancient traditions, to possess relics of the Precious Blood, but it is often difficult to tell whether the traditions are correct. Viewed as a part of the Sacred Humanity hypostatically united to the Word, the Precious Blood deserves latreutical worship or adoration. It may also, like the Heart or the Wounds from which it flowed, be singled out for special honour, in a way that .special honour Wiis rendered it from the beginning by St. Paul and the Fathers who so eloquently praised its redeeming virtue and rested on it the Christian spirit of self- sacrifice. As Faber remarks, the lives of the saints are replete w-ith devotion to the Precious Blood. In due course of time the Church gave shape and sanction to the devotion by approving .societies like the Missionaries of the Precious Blood; enriching confraternities like that of St. Nicholas in Carcere, in Rome, and that of the London Oratory; attaching indulgences to prayers and scapulars in honour of the Precious Blood; and establishing commemora- tive feasts of the Precious Blood, Friday after the fourth Sunday in Lent and, since Pius IX, the first Sunday of Julv.

Benedict XIV; De sertorum Dei Beaiificatione, II, 30; IV, ii, 10, de Feslis, I, 8 (Rome, 1747); F.iber, The Precious Blood (Baltimore, s. d.); Hcxteb, Outlines of Dogm. Thecl. (New York, 1896); lox, Die Rdiquien des Koslb. Blutes (Luxemburg, 18SII); Beringeh, Die AbUisse (12th ed., Paderbom, 1900).

J. F. SOLLIER.

Feast or the Most Precious Blood. — For many dioce-scs there are two days to which the Office of the Precious Blood has been assigned, the office being in both cases the same. The reason is this: the office was at first granted to the Fathers of the Most Precious Blood only. Later, as one of the offices of the Fridays of Lent, it was assigned to the Friday after the fourth Sunday in Lent. In many dioceses these officeswere adopted also by thefourth Provincial Coun- cil of Baltimore (1S40). When Pius IX went into exile at Gaeta (1S49) he had as his companion the saintly Don Giovanni Merlini, third superior general of the Fathers of the Most Precious Blood. ^\rrived at Gaeta, Merlini suggested that His Holiness make a vow to extend the feast of the Precious Blood to the entire Church, if he would again obtain po.ssession of the papal dominions. The pope took the matter under consideration, but a few days later sent his domestic prelate Jos. Stella to Merlini with the mes- sage: "The pope does not deem it expedient to bind himself by a vow; instead His Holiness is pleased to extend the feast immediately to aU Christendom". This was 30 June, 1849, the day the French con- quered Rome and the republicans capitulated. The thirtieth of June had been a Saturday before the first Sunday of July, wherefore the pope decreed (10 August, 1849) that henceforth every first Sunday of July should be dedicated to the Most Precious Blood.

Ulrich F. Mueller.

Precious Blood, Archconfr.\ternity op the Most. — Confraternities which made it their special object to venerate the Blood of Christ first arose in Spain. In the life of the Carmelite lay brother, Francis of the Infant Jesus (d. 1601), mention is made of such a confraternity as existing in Valencia. A few years later they must have been quite numerous, for it is .said of the Carmelite Anna of St. Augustine (d. 1624), that "she received with hospitality those who went about collecting alms for the confraternities of the Precious Blood erected in many places".

Ravenna, Italy, possessed one at a very early date. Another was erected in Rome under Gregory XIII and confirmed by Sixtus V, but merged later on with the Gonfalour. The archconfraternity as it now exists owes its origin to Mgr Albertini, then priest at San Nicola in Carcere, Rome, where since 1708 devotions in honour of the Precious Blood had been held. Deeply moved by the temporal and spiritual misery caused by the French Revolution, he united, 8 Decem- ber, 1808, into a society such as were willing to medi- tate frequently on the Passion and to offer up to the Divine Father the Blood of His Son, in expiation of their sins, for the conversion of sinners, for the great wants of the Church, and the souls in purgatory. He composed for them the "Chaplet of the Precious Blood" which they were to recite during his daily Mass. The confraternity was canonically erected by Pius VII through his cardinal vicar, 27 February, 1809, raised to the rank of an archconfraternity, 26 September, 1815, and enriched with numerous indul- gences. Pius IX increased the privileges, 19 January, 1850, and 30 September, 18.52. In England it was erected in the church of St. Wilfrid, Staffordshire, 1847, but was transferred to the church of the London Oratory (12 August, 1850). Previous to this it had been introduced into America by the Passionists, and canonically erected in the numerous houses and par- ishes founded bj' them after their arrival (1844). As a rule, they enroll such as desire it at the end of their missions.

Seeberger. Key to the Spiritual Treasure (CoUegeville, Ind.), 1-11, 372-80, 462; Behringeb, Die Abltisse (Paderborn), 607-10.

Ulrich F. Mueller.

Precious Blood, Congreg.\tion of the Most, an association of secular priests living in community, whose principal aim is to give missions and retreats. The members take no vows but are held together by the bond of charity only and by a promise "not to leave the community without permission of the lawful superior". The congregation was founded at the desire of Pius VII after his return from exile by Blessed Gaspare del Bufalo. Distressed at the spiritual condition of Rome, the pope determined that missions should be held throughout the Papal States and selected del Bufalo and a few other zealous priests to undertake the task (1814), assigning to them the convent of San Felice at Giano, where a foundation was made 15 Aug., 1815. New houses were opened, and in 1820 six missions were established in the Cainpagna for the conversion of the banditti. The growth of the society was checked at the election of Leo XII (1823), who, misinformed as to the work of the congregation and its founder, was unfavourable. He objected to the proposed name, "Congregation of the Most Precious Blood", as a novelty; but the society was finally cleared of all accusations and P. Betti justified the name from Scripture and the Fathers. Blessed Gaspare was succeeded by Don Biagio Valentini, a member of the society since 1817. His successor, the Ven. Giovanni Merlini (the process of whose beatification has been begun in Rome), was a native of Spoleto and a friend of Pius IX, whose exile at Gaeta he shared. Through the influence of the pope, several new houses were opened in Italy, and one each in Alsace and Bavaria. The mother-house was established in the convent of the Crociferi, Maria in Trivio. Merlini died 13 January, 1873, and was succeeded bv Don Enrico Rizzoli. Under his rule the Italian Government (1860, 1866, 1870) confiscated, among others, Maria in Trivio, since when the fathers who are in charge of this church have to rent a few rooms in their own house. In the convent garden a Methodist church was erected, but owing to the scanty attendance it was soon closed and is now used as a theatre. The Government confiscated the revenues of the seminary at Albano and suppressed