Eucharistic Miracle of the Week--Bruges, Belgium. Recent analyses were made of the crystal bottle containing the Precious Blood. The oldest documents concerning the Precious Blood of Bruges date back to 1256. The bottle has been dated back to the 11th century, and it was made in an area near Constantinople. Although in the Bible there is no explicit mention that the Blood of Christ was ever preserved, in one of the Apocryphal Gospels it is narrated that Joseph of Arimathea preserved some drops of the Blood of Christ. The Precious Blood was probably part of a group of relics of the Passion of Christ preserved at the Imperial Museum of Bucoleon in Constantinople (modern Istanbul). In 1203 Constantinople was besieged and conquered by the Crusaders., Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, after being crowned as the new emperor, sent the relic of the Precious Blood to Bruges in his native country. The adoration of the relic gave rise to the famous international procession that is held each year through the streets of the city on the Feast of the Ascension. The citizens of Bruges dress in historical costumes and reenact biblical scenes and the arrival of the Count of Flanders who brought the sacred relic.