The association was founded by Francesco Albertini, canon of the Basilica di San Nicola in Carcere, Rome, where since 1708 devotions in honour of the Precious Blood had been held.
Albertini conceived of a sodality,To promote the greater glory of God, the devotion and frequent reception of the sacraments among the people, especially in the poor artisans, workers, and peasants, and to obtain a more abundant suffrage for the souls of the deceased, particularly of those who died in the inns and in those places where they are ordinarily most forgotten.
[2] After the deportation of Pope Pius VII in 1809, Albertini and del Bufalo refused to take the oath of allegiance to Napoleon Bonaparte, and were sent into exile to northern Italy where they were imprisoned for four years.
On 15 August 1815, Gaspar del Bufalo founded the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, a Society of Apostolic Life composed of secular priests and brothers who live in community.
[1] In England it was erected in the church of St. Wilfrid, Staffordshire, 1847 by Frederick William Faber, but was in August 1850 it was transferred to the London Oratory, where it continues to meet weekly in the chapel of Our Lady of Dolours.