45,000 attend Bruges’ Holy Blood Procession honoring Christ’s relic

May 31, 2025

Bruges, Belgium, May 31, 2025 /
11:00 am

Over 45,000 people, including visitors from the Americas, lined the streets and walked in procession Thursday for the Holy Blood Procession in Bruges, Belgium, which has taken place annually on Ascension Day since May 3, 1304.

The procession depicts how a relic of the Holy Blood of Christ was brought to the West Flemish city following the Crusades.

The vial containing the cloth with the Holy Blood is carried from the basilica by the brotherhood after morning Mass. May 28, 2025. Credit: Thomas P. Reiter

Organized by the “Edele Confrèrie van het Heilig Bloed” (Noble Brotherhood of the Holy Blood), this year’s procession featured approximately 1,800 participants who reenacted 53 biblical and historical sacred scenes.

The procession moves through the entire medieval city center, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

Approximately 200 different animals participate in the Holy Blood Procession. May 28, 2025. Credit: Thomas P. Reiter

The Golgotha scene is presented through a cross from the town of Damme, where Cardinal Mathieu grew up, which is revered as miraculous. May 28, 2025. Credit: Thomas P. Reiter

The most prominent participant this year, alongside Bruges Bishop Lode Aerts, was Cardinal Dominique Mathieu, a Belgian religious cleric whom Pope Francis appointed as Archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan in 2021 and admitted to the College of Cardinals as a Cardinal Priest in December 2024.

Mathieu speaks six languages, including Arabic, and belongs to the Franciscan Minorite Order. He was born in the Belgian province of Luxembourg but grew up in Damme, near Bruges.

Maria The Virgin Mary, as Queen and patron saint of Bruges, graces more than 300 street corners throughout the city with her image. May 28, 2025. Credit: Thomas P. Reiter

In 2009, UNESCO added the Holy Blood Procession to its “List of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.” This World Heritage recognition came 700 years after Pope Clement V officially sanctioned the veneration of the Holy Blood relic in Bruges through the papal bull “Licet is” in 1310.

Romans Roman legionaries surround the sculpture of “Ecce homo,” which is normally venerated in the Basilica of the Holy Blood. May 28, 2025. Credit: Thomas P. Reiter

According to tradition, Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders, brought several drops of Christ’s blood from Jerusalem during a crusade in 1150. The relic has since been preserved in the Holy Blood Chapel in Bruges and serves as a daily attraction for tourists and pilgrims from around the world.

“It is finished,” represented by the Pietà at the Holy Blood Procession in Bruges, Belgium. May 28, 2025. Credit: Thomas P. Reiter

Bruges, the capital city of West Flanders in northwest Belgium known for its port, canals, medieval buildings, and cobblestone streets, is widely known to international audiences through the 2008 film “In Bruges” starring Irish actor Colin Farrell.

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Thomas Philipp Reiter is a Belgian-German journalist based in Brussels, specializing in reporting from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. He studied journalism, economics, and political science in Hamburg, Germany. Since 1986 he has been covering European affairs, authoring books on numerous German and Belgian topics. He is also known as a radio and podcast host.

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