Does not Divine Wisdom tell us that justificati in Sanguine salvi erimus ab ira per ipsum ‘justified in the Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him?
The Saint in a letter to Pope Leo XII
Saint of the Day Quote: Saint Caspar del Bufalo
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
It seems the ‘briganti’ were a form of outlaws who preyed on tourists in Italy at the time St. Caspar was founding missions and churches in vulnerable neighborhoods. St. Caspar’s efforts had a positive effect getting the outlaws to reform their ways, and that drew opposition from surprising sources. Local politicians (and maybe clergy?) who benefited from the briganti, perhaps financially or through the exercise of power in these neighborhoods, got Caspar suspended by the pope. The context of the quoted letter would seem to be an effort to clear his name, which eventually succeeded.
St. Caspar formed the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood, and part of the accusations against him was that name. It seems that the Feast of the Most Precious Blood was not celebrated by the full Church or in Italy at that time, so one accusation was that St. Caspar was being ‘unecclesiastical’, probably meaning he was making decisions above his pay grade. Pope Leo saw through it, cleared Caspar and let him continue his mission.