Saint Gaspar del Bufalo

Gaspar Melchior Balthazar del Bufalo, CPPS (January 6, 1786 – December 28, 1837), also known as Gaspare del Bufalo, was a Catholic priest and the founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. Canonised as a saint in 1954, he is liturgically commemorated on October 21. Gaspar del Bufalo was born in Rome on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1786. He was baptized that same day and given the name Gaspar Melchior Balthazar, the traditional names of the magi who visited the child Jesus. The son of Annunziata and Antonio del Bufalo, he grew up in the city of Rome, in the servants' quarters of a noble family, where his father worked as chef. His father was a failed entrepreneur who had dabbled in the theater and in professional soccer before taking a position as a cook in the household of the Altieri family, whose palace was across from the Church of the Gesù in Rome. Because of his delicate health, his pious mother had him confirmed at the age of one and a half years. As he was suffering from an incurable malady of the eyes, which threatened to leave him blind, prayers were offered to Francis Xavier for his recovery. Through the influence of his mother he became greatly devoted to Francis Xavier, whose relic is prominently displayed on an altar of the Gesù. In 1787, he was recovered and cherished in later life a special devotion to the Apostle of India, and selected him as the special patron of the congregation which he later founded. Gaspar was also active in several ministries. He visited the sick and the poor often and founded a young persons’ religious organization whose members prayed and did charitable work together. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in the diocese of Rome in 1808. Soon after Gaspar formed an evening society for the laborers and farm workers who came into Rome from the countryside to sell their wares. He provided catechism for orphans and children of the poor and set up a night shelter for the homeless.