The Litany of the Most Precious Blood honors the Blood of Christ shed for our salvation, from his circumcision to the Cross, and now offered in every Mass. Pope St. John XXIII approved it for the whole Church in 1960, and it is prayed especially in July, the month of the Precious Blood. Below is the history of the litany and of the devotion, how to pray it, and the Church’s older indulgenced prayers to the Precious Blood in full: the Seven Offerings, the oblation for a blessing and the prayer of adoration, with the Scripture behind them.
The Litany of the Most Precious Blood
The litany was approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, at the request of St. John XXIII, on February 24, 1960, and that same year the Pope wrote the apostolic letter Inde a primis (June 30, 1960) urging Catholics to cherish this devotion. It is one of the few litanies approved for public use in the Church.
How it is built: after the usual opening (“Lord, have mercy,” and the invocations of the Holy Trinity), it addresses the Blood of Christ under more than twenty titles, drawn from Scripture and the Fathers (the Blood of the only-begotten Son, of the New Covenant, shed in the agony, the scourging and the crowning with thorns, poured out on the Cross, the price of our salvation, the strength of martyrs, the comfort of the dying, and more), each answered with “save us.” It ends with the Lamb of God, a versicle and a closing prayer.
The approved text of the litany is printed in most Catholic prayer books and missals. Below are the Church’s older prayers to the Precious Blood, which are in the public domain and can be prayed with it or on their own.
The Seven Offerings of the Precious Blood
Indulgenced by Pope Pius VII in 1817, as given in The Raccolta (English translation, 1878). Some petitions reflect the language of their time; they can be prayed in the spirit of the Church today.
I. Eternal Father! I offer thee the merit of the precious blood of Jesus, thy well-beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for my dear mother, the holy Church, that she may enlarge her borders and be magnified in all the nations of the earth; for the safety and well-being of her visible head, the Sovereign Roman Pontiff; for the cardinals, bishops and pastors of souls, and for all the ministers of thy sanctuary.
Glory be to the Father… Blessing and thanksgiving be to Jesus, who with his blood hath saved us.
II. Eternal Father! I offer thee the merit of the precious blood of Jesus, thy well-beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for peace and union among all Catholic kings and princes, for the humiliation of the enemies of our holy faith, and for the welfare of all Christian people.
Glory be to the Father… Blessing and thanksgiving be to Jesus, who with his blood hath saved us.
III. Eternal Father! I offer thee the merit of the precious blood of Jesus, thy well-beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for the repentance of unbelievers, for the uprooting of heresy, and for the conversion of sinners.
Glory be to the Father… Blessing and thanksgiving be to Jesus, who with his blood hath saved us.
IV. Eternal Father! I offer thee the merit of the precious blood of Jesus, thy well-beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for all my kindred, friends, and enemies; for the poor, the sick, and wretched, and for all for whom thou, my God, knowest that I ought to pray, or wouldst have me pray.
Glory be to the Father… Blessing and thanksgiving be to Jesus, who with his blood hath saved us.
V. Eternal Father! I offer thee the merit of the precious blood of Jesus, thy well-beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for all who, this day, are passing to the other life; that thou wouldst save them from the pains of hell, and admit them quickly to the possession of thy glory.
Glory be to the Father… Blessing and thanksgiving be to Jesus, who with his blood hath saved us.
VI. Eternal Father! I offer thee the merit of the precious blood of Jesus, thy well-beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for all those who love this great treasure, for those who join with me in adoring it and honoring it, and who strive to spread devotion to it.
Glory be to the Father… Blessing and thanksgiving be to Jesus, who with his blood hath saved us.
VII. Eternal Father! I offer thee the merit of the precious blood of Jesus, thy well-beloved Son, my Saviour and my God, for all my wants, spiritual and temporal, in aid of the holy souls in purgatory, and chiefly for those who most loved this blood, the price of our redemption, and who were most devout to the sorrows and pains of most holy Mary, our dear mother.
Glory be to the Father… Blessing and thanksgiving be to Jesus, who with his blood hath saved us.
Glory be to the blood of Jesus, now and forever, and throughout all ages. Amen.
A short offering
The ejaculation recommended in the same collection:
Eternal Father! I offer thee the precious blood of Jesus, in satisfaction for my sins, and for the wants of holy Church.
An oblation for God’s blessing
From Father Lasance’s With God (1911), indulgenced by Pope Leo XII in 1823:
Eternal Father! we offer Thee the most precious blood of Jesus, shed for us with such great love and bitter pain from his right hand; and through the merits and the efficacy of that blood, we entreat Thy divine Majesty to grant us Thy holy benediction, in order that we may be defended thereby from all our enemies, and be set free from every ill; whilst we say: May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, descend upon us and remain with us forever. Amen.
A prayer of adoration to the Precious Blood
The prayer that closes the Chaplet of the Precious Blood in The Raccolta (1878):
Most precious blood of life eternal, price and ransom of the world, whose saving streams nourish and cleanse our souls, ever pleading man’s cause before the throne of heavenly mercy! from the depths of my soul I adore thee: fain would I, were I able, make thee some compensation for the outrages and wrongs thou dost ever suffer from men, thy creatures, and, most of all, from those who, in their rashness, cease not to blaspheme thee. Who will not bless this blood of infinite value? who not burn for love of Jesus, who shed it all for us? What were I but for this blood which hath redeemed me? Love, assuredly love. O boundless love, which gave to us this saving balm beyond all price, welling from the fount of immeasurable love! Give to all hearts, to all tongues, power to praise, hymn, and thank thee, now and forever, and throughout all eternity! Amen.
What Scripture says about the Blood of Christ
Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver, from your vain conversation of the tradition of your fathers:
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled,
Foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but manifested in the last times for you,
Who through him are faithful in God, who raised him up from the dead, and hath given him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.
Neither by the blood of goats, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh:
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?
The devotion to the Precious Blood
- July has been dedicated to the Precious Blood since the nineteenth century.
- The feast of the Most Precious Blood was extended to the whole Church by Blessed Pius IX in 1849 and kept on July 1. Since the reform of the calendar in 1969, the Blood of Christ is celebrated together with his Body on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ), and a votive Mass of the Precious Blood remains in the Roman Missal.
- St. Gaspar del Bufalo (1786–1837) founded the Missionaries of the Precious Blood in 1815 and spread the devotion throughout Italy; St. Maria De Mattias founded the Adorers of the Blood of Christ.
- At every Mass, the priest says over the chalice: “this is the chalice of my Blood.” See Corpus Christi.
How to pray the litany and these prayers
- Daily in July, or on Fridays in honor of the Passion.
- Before the Blessed Sacrament, during a Holy Hour. See Eucharistic adoration prayers.
- For the dying and the souls in purgatory, offering the Precious Blood for them, as in the Fifth and Seventh Offerings.
- In times of danger or temptation, with the short offering above.
Frequently asked questions
When was the Litany of the Precious Blood approved?
On February 24, 1960, under Pope St. John XXIII.
Why is July the month of the Precious Blood?
Because the feast of the Most Precious Blood was kept on July 1 (earlier, on the first Sunday of July) from 1849 until 1969, and the custom of honoring the Precious Blood throughout the month continues.
Is the Litany of the Precious Blood approved for public recitation?
Yes. It is one of the litanies approved for public use, together with the Litanies of the Holy Name, the Sacred Heart, Loreto, St. Joseph and the Saints.
More litanies and prayers
- Chaplet of the Precious Blood
- What is a litany?
- Litany of the Sacred Heart
- Litany of the Holy Name
- Divine Mercy Chaplet
- Good Friday
Texts and sources
- Seven Offerings, ejaculation and prayer after the Chaplet: The Raccolta (English translation, 1878), nos. 67, 70 and 71, public domain (archive.org).
- Oblation and thanksgiving in honor of the Most Precious Blood: F. X. Lasance, With God (1911), Indulgenced Prayers, public domain (Wikisource).
- St. John XXIII, apostolic letter Inde a primis (June 30, 1960); Sacred Congregation of Rites, approval of the Litany of the Most Precious Blood (February 24, 1960).
- Scripture: 1 Peter 1:18–21; Hebrews 9:12–14, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.