Ordered to swear allegiance to Napoleon, he replied “I cannot. I ought not. I will not!”
nobility.org
Founder of the Missionaries of the most Precious Blood (C.P.P.S.); born at Rome on the feast of the Epiphany, 1786; died 28 December, 1837.
His parents were Antonio del Bufalo, chief cook of the princely family of Altieri, and his wife Annunziata Quartieroni. Because of his delicate health, his pious mother had him confirmed at the tender age of one and a half years (1787). As he was suffering from an incurable malady of the eyes, which threatened to leave him blind, prayers were offered to St. Francis Xavier for his recovery. In 1787, he was miraculously cured, wherefore he cherished in later life a special devotion to the great Apostle of India, and selected him as the special patron of the congregation which he founded. From his earliest years he had a great horror of even venial sins and showed deep piety, a spirit of mortification, remarkable control over his evil inclinations (especially his innate irascibility and strong self-will), and also heroic love for the poor and the miserable. Having entered the Collegium Romanum at the age of twelve he received in 1800 first tonsure, and one year later the four minor orders. As catechetical instructor at St. Mark’s, his zeal won for him the name “The Little Apostle of Rome”, and when but nineteen years old, he was appointed president of the newly instituted catechetical school of Santa Maria del Pianto.
After
his ordination (31 July, 1808), he obtained a canonry at St. Mark’s,
and soon instituted with Gaetano Bonani a nocturnal oratory. He assisted
Francesco Albertini in founding the Archconfraternity of the Most
Precious Blood, and worked with great zeal in the poorer districts of
Rome, preaching frequently in the market-places. In 1810 he was summoned
before General Miollis to swear allegiance to Napoleon. But neither
threats nor promises could induce him to do so, because Pius VII had
forbidden it. The words with which he announced his final decision have
become famous: “Non posso, non debbo, non voglio” (I cannot, I ought
not; I will not). In consequence he suffered banishment, and later on
imprisonment in the foul dungeons of Imola and Rocca (1810-1814). After
Napoleon’s fall he returned to Rome, intending to enter the
re-established Jesuit Order. But obeying his spiritual adviser,
Albertini, he founded a congregation of secular priests to give missions
and spread devotion to the Most Precious Blood. Through Cardinal
Cristaldi he obtained the pope’s sanction and, as a mother-house, the
former convent of San Felice in Giano. Of this he took solemn
possession, 11 August, 1815. The Bull of beatification says, “Through
Umbria, Aemilia, Picenum, Tuscany, Campania, Samnium, in short all the
provinces of Middle Italy he wandered, giving missions”. The very titles
accorded to him by his contemporaries speak volumes: “II Santo”,
“Apostle of Rome”, “Il martello dei Carbonari” (Hammer of Italian
Freemasonry).
How arduous some of his missions were may be gleaned from the fact
that he frequently preached five times daily, sometimes even oftener. At
Sanseverino fifty priests were not sufficient to hear confessions after
his sermons. Though idolized by the people, he was not without enemies.
His activity in converting the “briganti”, who came in crowds and laid
their guns at his feet after he had preached to them in their mountain
hiding-places, excited the ire of the officials who profited from
brigandage through bribes and in other ways. These enemies almost
induced Leo XII to suspend del Bufalo. But after a personal conference,
the pope dismissed him, remarking to his courtiers, “Del Bufalo is an
angel”. His enemies next tried to remove him from his post by procuring
his promotion as “internuncio to Brazil”. In vain, however, for his
humility triumphed. A last attempt under Pius VIII (1830) met with
temporary success. Del Bufalo was deprived of faculties for a short
time, and his congregation threatened with extinction. But his wonderful
humility again manifested itself, and, though himself misjudged and his
life-work menaced by the very authority that should have supported him,
he showed no signs of resentment, forgave his enenies, and excused his
unmerited condemnation. The storm soon passed, Gaspare was restored to
honour, and resumed his work with renewed zeal. In 1836 his strength
began to fail. Although fatally ill, he hastened to Rome, where the
cholera was raging, to administer to the spiritual wants of the
plague-stricken. It proved too much for him, and he succumbed in the
midst of his labours on 28 Dec., 1837. He was beatified by Pius X on 29
Aug., 1904.
Ulrich F. Mueller (Catholic Encyclopedia)