Devotion to the Most Precious Blood, rooted in the primitive Church and already alive in
the first centuries of Christianity, experienced its greatest development in the Middle Ages, when
great importance was given to the suffering humanity of Christ. Thanks to St. Casper of Buffalo,
the Feast of the Most Precious Blood was initiated and under the Pontificate of Pius IX, it was
extended to the whole Catholic World.
St. Casper of Buffalo (1786-1837), seven years after the foundation of the Congregation of
the Most Precious Blood, presented a request to obtain the “nulla osta” for the celebration of the
Feast of the Most Precious Blood. The Sacred Congregation for Rites granted for it to be celebrated
on the first Sunday of July, only within this Institute. The Saint, therefore, did not have the joy of
seeing it extended to the universal Church, as he had so ardently desired.
It was the revolution of the year 1848 which induced Pope Pius IX to extend it to the whole
Church. The Holy Father had left Rome which was occupied by the revolutionaries, and had taken
refuge in Gaeta. Ven. D. John Merlin, already secretary and then the successor of St. Casper of
Buffalo, was highly esteemed by Pius IX due to his holiness, prudence and wisdom, so much so that
he summoned him during the difficult moments in the Church and also asked him to hear his own
confession. Pius IX, in a private Audience, asked him when those terrible moments that the Church
was experiencing, would pass. The holy Missionary reflected for a moment, as if in prayer, and
then replied to the Pontiff that if, with a vow, he would extend the Feast of the Most Precious Blood
to the whole Church, he would return to a liberated Rome. The Pope wanted time to reflect a little.
Then, in a letter dated June 30
advice, but without binding himself with a vow.
Then, on the first Sunday of July of that same year, the revolutionaries were constrained to
leave Rome and the Pope, with a decree dated August 10
Precious Blood to the whole Church, to be celebrated as a double of the second class on the first
Sunday of July. Pius X fixed it definitively on July 1
centenary of the Redemption, raised it to a double of the first class in April of the year 1934.
On February 14
coupled the Feast of the Most Precious Blood with that of Corpus Domini. Very soon after,
however, he came to know that his decision had caused much discontentment, especially in the
Institutes which bore this most august title, as well as great disillusionment amongst those devoted
to the Blood of Christ, already so impassioned by the lively recommendations of Pope John XXIII.
Receiving in a public audience the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood, the Sisters,
and the Pious associations that bore the title of the Blood of Christ, as well as very many devotees,
he wanted to clarify the meaning of such coupling and confirm that all the Institutes, churches and
chapels, confraternities and pious associations which bore this beautiful title, could still celebrate
the Feast as a Solemnity on July 1of the year 1969, following the post-council liturgical reform, Paul VI
Queen of the Most Precious Blood
When, thanks to the spreading of the devotion to the Blood of the divine Redeemer, the
Holy Virgin started to be invoked under the title of “Queen of the Most Precious Blood,” there
were discussions and contrasting opinions amongst the sacred Writers and some of the Marian
Theologians.
The Magisterium of the Church took no sides. The polemic was kindled greatly when the
gifted Jesuit Fr. G.M. Petazza published a booklet entitled: “The Most Precious Blood and Our
Lady.”
In the first chapter Fr. Petazzi gave reflections upon the Relationship of Mary Most Holy
with the adorable Blood of Jesus, affirming, amongst other things, that “the title of Queen of the
Most Precious Blood marvellously expresses the relationship of Mary with the adorable Blood. In
fact, the divine Blood is the title by which Mary Most Holy is Queen: 1) because She had given it
to the divine King, Who by it and with it, reigned in the world; 2) because uniting Herself to the
offering of this Blood, She became Queen of the Universe; 3) because from the Blood She was
germinated, the first flower and Queen of beauty; 4) because in administering this adorable Blood,
She demonstrated Her exalted sovereignty of love.”
To the theses which were contrary to this he replied that the title of Queen did not always
indicate superiority over the object to which it referred, so that the title was not, therefore, to
indicate a superiority over Christ Himself. In fact, when She is called Queen of peace, of love,
of sorrow, etc., it does not mean to say that the Virgin has dominion over peace, over sorrow and
over love, but that they are both titles of Her royal pre-eminence. And therefore, with tranquillity,
amongst all the titles by which we may greet Mary Most Holy our Queen, the principal one is
precisely this adorable Blood, which is the profound reason of Her royalty.
Iconography
One of the most moving and incisive depictions stemming from Catholic devotion to the
Blood of Christ is certainly that of the “mystical winepress,” practically forgotten due to the
impetuous assaults of a supposed Christianity without suffering or the Cross. In these
representations Christ is portrayed as the fruit squeezed, whose juice, namely His Blood, is
gathered up in a vat to be the drink of redemption for the sins of man. Christ is compared with the
grape and, pressed like grapes in order to obtain wine, gives vital force to mankind. As such, Christ
crushed by the Cross brings forth Blood for the spiritual salvation of man.
The iconography of the Torculus Christi [the winepress of Christ] dates back to medieval
times. Initially there was the simple depiction of the vine and the clusters of grapes. The image of
Christ in the winepress spread from the 12
divine Redeemer was portrayed in an ever more explicit manner with His Blood exuding under the
pressure of the winepress. The image is inspired by the text of Isaiah (63:3): “I have trodden the
winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me: I have trampled on them in my
indignation, and have trodden them down in my wrath, and their blood is sprinkled upon my
garments, and I have stained all my apparel.”
The credit for wisely uniting this passage of Isaiah with the marvellous cluster of grapes in
Numbers, is to be attributed to St. Augustine. “And going forward as far as the torrent of the
cluster of grapes, they cut off a branch with its cluster of grapes, which two men carried upon a
lever” (Numbers 23:4). In his Exposition of the Psalms, the Bishop of Hippo’s comment is explicit,
“My enemies have trodden on me all the day long; for they are many that make war against me.
From the height of the day I shall fear: but I will trust in thee. […] How therefore is He held in
Geth? Held in a winepress is His Body, that is, His Church. What is, in a winepress? In pressings.
But in a winepress fruitful is the pressing. A grape on the vine sustaineth no pressing, whole it
seemeth, but nothing thence floweth: it is thrown into a winepress, is trodden, is pressed; harm
seemeth to be done to the grape, but this harm is not barren; nay, if no harm had been applied,
barren it would have remained. Let whatsoever holy men therefore that are suffering pressing from
those that have been put afar off from the Saints, give heed to this Psalm, let them perceive here
themselves, let them speak what here is spoken, that suffer what here is spoken of…. The first
cluster pressed in the wine vat was Christ. When that cluster by passion was pressed out, there
flowed that wine whose chalice inebriating is so beautiful!”
The most celebrated portrayal of the mystical winepress is certainly that executed by
Andrew Mainardi, called Chiaveghino, for the high altar in the Church of St. Augustine in
Cremona, Italy, in 1594.
This composition is entirely centred upon the figure of Christ Who, bent and burdened under the winepress
which is being rotated by two angels,
is extending His arms forward so that His Blood will fall from the wounds of His hands into the vat.
In the superior part of the painting, God the Father is depicted with His arms opened wide in the
highest heavens, faraway from the true and proper crushing action. Below St. Gregory the Great
holds up, with the assistance of an angel, a chalice which is filled with the divine must, while other
Church Fathers––Jerome to the right, Augustine and Ambrose to the left––are figured at the side of
the winepress, behind which there is gathered a crowd of Faithful ready to taste the fruit of the
Redemption. One of the details worth noting is that Augustine, with his right hand, is pointing to
Christ Who by His sacrifice redeems humanity. The composition, truly unique of its kind, strongly
emphasizes the role of the Church (especially seen here in the person of St. Gregory the Great who
was a figure always associated with the Blood of Christ) as the intermediary between Christ and the
throng of the Faithful.
In painting this work Mainardi alludes to the greatness of the merits of Christ and the
Church: the Blood which gushes forth from the Redeemer’s wounds, is the lymph of the assembly
of believers and is dispensed by the Church through penance and indulgences.
The image of the Torculus Christi––the winepress of Christ––was not foreign to medieval
mysticism which did not fail to express itself with artistic portrayals of great interest. Among the
mystics worthy of great attention we find, without a doubt, the mystic of Florence, St. Mary
Magdalene de Pazzi (1566––1607), a contemporary of Mainardi. Tradition attributes an artistic
design to the Saint which can be found in the cell where she died (see the image). On the back of
the image it is written: “This picture and the inscriptions seen in it were made by the very hand of
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi in whose published life is read: She, being in ecstasy in the dark, and
with her eyes blindfolded, painted devout images on paper which, being miraculous, have been
preserved.”
The design, which is rather simple, figures Christ bent under the weight of the Cross-press
which is placed diagonally. Upon the four limbs one reads: Humilitas, Innocentia, Castitas, Caritas.
His feet are resting upon the vat which is in the form of a heart, below which there flows a scroll
with the words: Ego torcular calcavi solus calcavi. The Redeemer stands out in front and in His
right hand He holds a carafe full of blood; His Blood is being poured out of the carafe into a chalice
which a devout person on her knees (she herself) is holding. On the reverse side of the image there
is written: “Bl. Albert the Great maintained: Recordatio Passionis Christi multo plus / iuvat homini,
quam si integrum annum / jeiunerat in pane et aqua, vel si quotidie / virgis aut flagellis cederetur
usque ad sanguinis effusionem vel si quotidie legeret / integrum Psalterium [The memory of
Christ’s Passion benefits man more than if he fasts on bread and water for a year, or if he
disciplines himself to the shedding of blood with rod and whip, or if he daily reads the entire
Psalter].
Even in her frequent ecstasies, the Saint returns to the theme of the Torculus Christi and His
Blood. In her thirty-fourth colloquy of April 17
preceding night in this way: “The fruitful vines are the souls in love with Thee, oh Word, who
would give their lives a thousand times daily, if it were possible, for Thy love and in order to obtain
souls for Thee, souls whose vines are squeezed in the funnel, or rather in the true winepress of the
memory of Thy Passion.” And in the forty-sixth colloquy of May 7, 1587 she adds: “And the wine
squeezed [in the press] is so abundant that the bride does not have sufficient bottles to store it all….
But what does the Bridegroom do? He gives her [the vessel needed] for storing it up. And what is
this that He gives to her? He gives her that precious and great vessel, and this is His Heart.” The
mystical transport of this Saint towards Christ and His saving Blood inspired in many ways the field
of iconography. Noteworthy is the evocative canvas of the early 17
Church of Licata where the Saint is portrayed on her knees in front of Christ Crucified and is
literally being hit with a wave of blood-light coming out from the Redeemer’s side, whilst the
Virgin is crowning her (see the image).
The varied iconography of the Torculus Christi demonstrates the ardent devotion of the
Christian people towards the Lord’s Blood, the price of our redemption, the plant of benediction,
the trophy of glory, the standard of salvation. It is necessary to return to this devotion in order to
focus Christianity anew on Him alone Who ransoms us at the price of His Blood which was
wrenched out in the mystical winepress of the Cross.
Christ on the Cross
“…And naked like this on the Cross
Jesus, enkindled by love,
does not concern Himself with the jeers or voice
of those who despise Him;
then Nicodemus took
and wrapped the sweet Saviour in cloth.
Inebriated with charity,
this is how Isaiah saw Him:
red and bathed in wine
likewise His vestments;
from the press exuded wine:
this is the Cross and the great sorrow.”
(Lauda 9, vv. 29-40)
The Cross as the Winepress
[Christ to His Mother]: “It is true that Thou didst carry Me for nine months, the Cross will only
carry Me for three hours: Thou without labour or weight, [the Cross] with weight and labour…
It is true that Thou didst not receive Me from [the Cross], but that it received Me from Thee, and
having received Me alive it give Me back to Thee dead: and the Cross is very indebted to Thee for
this Head; but Thou too art much indebted to the Cross for the salvation of the world. Thou wert the
vine of the grape: [the Cross] is the press of the wine: Thou didst have Me as Thy fruit, [the Cross]
takes Me as the price. And even if it was said of Thy fruit: ‘Benedictus fructus ventris tui,’ and of
[the Cross]: ‘Maledictus qui pendet in ligno,’ nonetheless from today onward it will be the plant of
benediction, the trophy of glory, the standard of salvation.”
(from the Diceria Sacra)
(De Vita Contemplativa July edition)
