«MAY GOD BE BLESSED». — A formula of praise to God, to Jesus Christ, to the Virgin and to St. Joseph, commonly recited or sung after the blessing with the Most Holy Sacrament and often also after Mass.
The original series of these praises is due to the Jesuit Luigi Felici (1736–1818), who, having founded in Rome a congregation of “mariners,” composed it in 1797, in order to more effectively uproot the vice of blasphemy. He recommended it, in addition to the “mariners,” to all the faithful as an act of reparation. The pious practice soon spread to other associations, confraternities and churches. Pius VII (23 July 1801) enriched it with indulgences; Pius IX, preaching on 13 January 1847 in the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle against blasphemy, warmly recommended it; and on 8 August of the same year he added new indulgences and prescribed that it be recited after the most solemn Masses or the last Mass celebrated in every church, and after the function of benediction with the Most Holy Sacrament. From the Papal States the practice spread throughout Italy and also abroad. The same Pius IX, after the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, added the praise: “Blessed be her holy and immaculate Conception”; Leo XIII (2 February 1897; Acta Sanctae Sedis, 29 [1896–97], pp. 447–48) added the fourth praise: “Blessed be His most sacred Heart”; Benedict XV: “Blessed be St. Joseph, His most chaste spouse” (AAS, 13 [1921], p. 158).
The indulgences now attached to this pious practice are as follows: an indulgence of three years each time; of five years when the Praises are recited in public; a plenary indulgence, once a month, when they have been recited every day (cf. Preces et pia opera, Rome 1938, n. 646, p. 514).