On Tuesday, July 1, 2025, the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land gathered in prayer at the Sanctuary of Gethsemane to celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The celebration was presided over by the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Patton, who, with this liturgical service, concluded his mandate in the Holy Land as they await the arrival of the newly elected Custos, Fr. Francesco Ielpo. Many priests concelebrated, including the Custodial Vicar, Fr. Ibrahim Faltas, and the Guardian of the Gethsemane convent, Fr. Sinisa Srebrenović.

A unique celebration in Jerusalem

The ancient devotion to the Blood of Jesus received official recognition in the liturgy when Pope Pius IX instituted the Feast of the Most Precious Blood in 1849, setting it for July 1. Later, with the 1969 liturgical reform, Pope St. Paul VI merged this feast with that of Corpus Christi. Today, Jerusalem remains the only place where the feast continues to be celebrated separately, as the Basilica of the Agony at the foot of the Mount of Olives preserves the site where Jesus sweat blood.

The blood of Christ, a gift of salvation for humanity

"From Nazareth to Gethsemane, from Gethsemane to Calvary, from Calvary to the altar and to each of us."

With these words, the Custos of the Holy Land began his homily, emphasizing how the Precious Blood of Jesus, from his incarnation, runs through every stage of Christ's life until it reaches each of us, transforming human history into a history of salvation.

"This is the Most Precious Blood of Jesus," the Custos continues, " his life wholly given, which now becomes the gift that heals our lives, puts us back in touch with God, [...] through that blood it is divine life itself that flows in us."

On this solemnity we celebrate the living encounter with Christ: in his given blood we receive the grace that transforms us inwardly, reconciles us with God and makes us partakers of his own divine life.

A hope possible in the Holy Land

Finally, the Custos wanted to recall the dramatic reality currently affecting the Holy Land, pointing to the Eucharist and the blood shed by Christ as the way to build peace and respect for every life.

“For us who live in a context where human blood is spilled too easily and without scruples, in a context where words like forgiveness and reconciliation sound distant and almost unattainable, the words of Jesus take on an even stronger meaning—the meaning of a possible hope for reconciliation and peace, the meaning of a possible respect for every human life, the meaning of a new covenant.”

At the end of the celebration, Brother Sinisa wished to express heartfelt thanks to the Custos of the Holy Land, remembering him in the community prayer. Afterwards , he honored the Custos and Vicar with a lithograph depicting the olive trees of Gethsemane.