Precious Blood

English

Etymology

Calque of Ecclesiastical Latin pretiōsus sanguis.

Proper noun

the Precious Blood

1. (Roman Catholicism) The blood of Jesus Christ, especially in the form it is believed to take in the consecrated wine of the Eucharist.
   • 1885, “The Precious Blood”, in Franciscan Annals, volume 9, number 103, page 193:

     As the month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and the month of June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so the present month is dedicated to the Precious Blood.

   • 2003, Valerie I. J. Flint, “Conversion and Compromise in Thirteenth-Century England”, in Kenneth Mills, Anthony Grafton, editors, Conversion: Old Worlds and New, →ISBN, page 19:

     This was almost a parody of the procession conducted by Henry III when he took the Precious Blood to the raised shrine of Edward the Confessor.

   • 2010, Elena Maria Vidal, Madame Royale: A Novel, →ISBN, page 253:

     His palms were anointed with chrism and the oil of catechumens; he alone among laymen could now handle the chalice and drink of the Precious Blood at Mass.