Most Precious Blood Parish
Eglise Très Précieux Sang
Established A.D. 1880
What is the Most Precious Blood?
Blood is a symbol of covenantal life, a sign of relationship and bond. Genesis relates that after the Flood, God allowed humans to use the flesh of animals as food except for "meat with its lifeblood in it," because God wished to make every creature accountable for each other's blood. In the Law of Moses, while the flesh of a sacrifice would be consumed, the blood was poured upon the altar or sprinkled upon the Ark of the Covenant, making it sacred by contact with the divine. These sacrifices culminated on the Cross with the death of Jesus; He allowed His death to be an offering to the Father for all the sins of the world, past, present and future. Because Jesus is where the human and the divine meet, His Blood is the very Blood of God. Its price is beyond measure. Each drop of it is "most precious." Now through the Mass, that Blood is given back to us through the Eucharistic bread and wine, to make us sacred through this mystical contact with the divine - and to remind us that we are always accountable for the Blood of the Lord.
Devotion to the Most Precious Blood is also, in a way, a devotion to the Blessed Mother; as Jesus took flesh and was born from Mary, she is the source of Blood of God. She is the Ark of the New Covenant, made sacred by her contact with the Presence that both overshadowed her and grew inside her. For the sake of the merits of the Blood that redeemed the world, she was made Immaculate by God.
For information on Saint Gaspar del Bufalo, the missionary through whom this devotion spread throughout the Church, click here.
25 Maple Street
Hyde Park, MA 02136

Sunday Mass
9:00 a.m. (English)
5:00 p.m. (Haitian Creole)
Weekday Mass
9:00 a.m. Wednesday and Saturday
First Friday Adoration
12:00-2:00 p.m.
Parish History
Prior to 1853 the Catholics of the area that would become Hyde Park belonged to Saints Peter and Paul Parish, South Boston. In 1853 Saint Gregory Parish in Dorchester was established, which included our area. Between 1853 and 1870, Mass was held in private homes in our area as occasion permitted. For a time, Mass was also celebrated in the music hall in Everett (now Logan) Square.
In 1868 the Town of Hyde Park was formally incorporated, and soon after a lot for a church was purchased on Webster Street. In 1870 a parish was formally created for Hyde Park, and Rev. William J. Corcoran was sent as pastor. He supervised the building of the Church of the Epiphany, which burned down on January 2, 1875; it was not rebuilt, but a new lot was purchased on the corner of Maple and Oak Streets, at the top of what was then called "Mount Neponset" (as the Neponset River runs alongside the hill). In 1877, Rev. J. H. Conlon succeeded Fr. Corcoran as area pastor.
In February 1880, Rev, Richard J. Barry was assigned to Hyde Park, and it was he who took up the task of building a new house of worship. The cornerstone for Hyde Park's new Catholic church was laid on Sunday, July 4--which, being the Sunday following June 30, was the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ in 1880. And it was to this devotion that the new church would be dedicated. The Church of the Most Precious Blood was completed in 1885, and formally dedicated on Sunday, September 13.
Read an
April 22, 1888 homily by Fr. Barry on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the founding of Hyde Park.
MPB's parish family has been just as stalwart as the noble sanctuary it calls home. Over the decades, parishioners have served God and neighbor graciously according to their own station, coming together in groups such as the long-standing Holy Name Society, the local chapters of the Knights of Columbus and St. Vincent dePaul Society, and more recently the Haitian Prayer Group - or even individually, warmly greeting one another and sharing their joy with friends and visitors. Through it all, our priests have led us as faithful stewards and energetic teachers of the Gospel, loving fathers of a family that has not forgotten them; the great windows inside the church are dedicated to former pastors, and the memory of our friend and lifelong Hyde Parker Msgr. Day still brings many stories and many smiles.
The sites of Most Precious Blood’s "satellite" schoolhouses in Readville and on Fairmount Hill gave rise to the locations of two new parishes: St. Anne in 1918 and St. Pius X (Milton) in 1954. It is fitting, therefore, that "Mother" MPB is proud to be working together with her "children" again, as part of the Catholic Parishes of the Blue Hills, to serve Hyde Park's faithful and to spread the Good News.
The Pastors of Most Precious Blood Church
- Rev. Richard J. Barry, 1880-1888
- Rt. Rev. Msgr. James J. Chittick, 1888-1919
- Rev. James F. Stanton, 1919-1923
- Rev. Henry T. Grady, 1923-1929
- Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edward F. Crowley, 1929-1953
- Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edmund A. Moran, 1953-1966
- Most Rev. Lawrence J. Riley, 1966-1990
- Rev. James D. Lyons, 1990-1996
- Rev. Peter P. Nolan, C.S.Sp., 1997-2014
- Rev. Ronald D. Coyne, 2014-2019
- Rev. Joseph Mazzone, 2020-
