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St Gaspar del Bufalo Healing Oil (Founder of the missioners of the Precious Blood)

St Gaspar del Bufalo (January 6, 1786 – December 28, 1837), also known as Gaspare del Bufalo, a Catholic priest and the founder of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. Canonised as a saint in 1954, he liturgically commemorated the 21 October.

St. Gaspar del Bufalo born on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1786, in Rome. His parents named him after the Magi who visted the Christ child: Gaspar Melchior Balthazar del Bufalo. An apt name for a man who would spend his life on a quest to fulfill the will of God.

Gaspar raised in the bustle and activity of the Eternal City. When Gaspar a little boy, his father hired as a cook for a family with royal connections, and the family moved to the Palazzo Altieri, in the heart of Rome.

As a child, Gaspar suffered from a near-fatal illness, and his faith-filled mother, Annunziata, dedicated him to St. Francis de Sales. At a young age, Gaspar knew his calling, and he visited the sick and the poor, often stopping at a bakery first to buy a sweet treat to share with them.

He ordained in 1808, at the age of 22. Soon after, he formed an evening society for the laborers and farm workers who came into Rome to sell their wares. He wanted to bring them back to the Church, and to show them that, even though they struggled to survive on the streets of Rome, their lives had value.