27. The Precious Blood

[from the ITALIAN.]

Hail Jesus! Hail! who for my sake
Sweet Blood from Mary's veins didst take,
And shed it all for me;
Oh blessed be my Saviour's Blood,
My life, my light, my only good,
To all eternity.

To endless ages let us praise
The Precious Blood, whose price could raise
The world from wrath and sin;
Whose streams our inward thirst appease,
And heal the sinner's worst disease,
If he but bathe therein.

O sweetest Blood, that can implore
Pardon of God, and heaven restore,
The heaven which sin had lost:
While Abel's blood for vono;('ance pleiids,
AV^hat Jesus shed still intercedes
For those who wrong Him most.

Oh to be sprinkled from the wells
Of Christ's own sacred Blood, excels
Earth's best and highest bliss:
The ministers of wrath divine
Hurt not the happy hearts that shine
With those red drops of His!

Ah! there is joy amid the saints,
And helPs despairing courage faints
When this sweet song we raise:
Oh louder then, and louder still,
Earth with one mighty chorus fill,
The Precious Blood to praise!
To all the faithful who say or sing the above Hymn, Pius
VII grants an indulgence of 100 days: applicable also to the
souls in Purgatory.