DEL BUFALO, GASPARE, blessed. — Apostle of devotion to the Most Precious Blood, born in Rome on 6 Jan. 1786 to a noble but impoverished family, died there on 28 Dec. 1837. Coadjutor canon of the Basilica of S. Marco from as early as 24 Nov. 1807, ordained a priest on 31 July 1808, he devoted himself with admirable zeal to the apostolate.
When Rome was invaded by French troops in 1808, having refused—although requested to do so twice—to swear an oath of allegiance to Bonaparte (1810), he was exiled and then imprisoned in Piacenza, Bologna, and finally, in 1813, in Corsica.
As soon as he was free, on 26 Jan. 1814, he returned to Rome and, after renouncing his canonry at the Basilica of S. Marco, concentrated all his energy on founding an ecclesiastical congregation devoted to preaching missions and spiritual exercises; overcoming opposition and conflicts, and receiving strong support from Pius VII, he opened the first house of the Institute of the Most Precious Blood at Giano in Umbria on 15 Aug. 1815. He then travelled, together with his spiritual sons, through almost the whole of Italy, making a substantial contribution to the reform of the people and the clergy. The Blessed also took special care of the hospice of S. Galla in Rome and gave valuable assistance to the venerable Maria De Matthias in founding the Adorers of the Most Precious Blood. His beatification, decreed by Pius X on 24 June 1904, was solemnly proclaimed on 18 Dec. of that year.