CORPUS CHRISTI CELEBRATION

 

CORPUS CHRISTI CELEBRATION

The Feast of Corpus Christi is a Christian liturgical solemnity celebrating the Real Presence of the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the elements of the Eucharist; it is observed by the Latin Church, in addition to certain Western Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican churches. Two months earlier, the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper is observed on Maundy Thursday in a sombre atmosphere leading to Good Friday. 

In latin, it is “Dies Sanctissimi Corporis et Sanguinis Domini Iesu Christi”, which literally means  ”Day of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ the Lord”; also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

In Switzerland, Corpus Christi is a holiday filled with reverence and symbolism. Exactly 10 days after Whit Monday (Monday after Pentecost), Christians celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, better known as the Feast of (or just) Corpus Christi. The festival itself is designed to commemorate the Holy Eucharist: the body, blood and divinity of Jesus Christ.

On the day itself, Corpus Christi celebrations usually involve large processions of people in traditional clothing and uniforms. Activities include parades, prayers, hymns, displays of icons and jewelled statues of the Virgin Mary and other saints, and church services.

It is observed as a public holiday in Austria, Brazil, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, parts of Germany, Grenada, Liechtenstein, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Philippines, Saint Lucia, San Marino, parts of Spain, parts of Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago

The date is Thursday after Trinity Sunday; 60 days after Easter, or the Sunday immediately following May 30 2024, June 19 2025 and so on.

MEANING OF CORPUS CHRISTI OR CORPUS DOMINI 

Corpus Christi means body of Christ in Latin, although in Switzerland it is often called Fête-Dieu (Celebration of God) in the Romande, Corpus Domini in Ticino and Fronleichnam in German-speaking areas. Fronleichnam comes from the Middle High German word vronlicham  vron meaning lord and licham meaning body, hence body of Christ. 

BIBLICAL ORIGIN OF THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI 

The origins of the festival begin with the story of the Last Supper, when Jesus Christ is said to have broken bread and drunk wine with his disciples, proclaiming the bread to be his flesh and the wine his blood. This created the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which is still honoured in Christian doctrine today by eating bread and wine during the Blessed Sacrament at communion.

HUMAN ORIGIN OF THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI

Corpus Christi as a feast has its origins with Juliana of Liège, a 13th-century canoness from Belgium. As an orphaned child growing up in a convent, she developed a focus on the Blessed Sacrament and longed for a feast to celebrate it, although the body and blood of Christ are also honoured during Lent and on Maundy Thursday. From 1208, she even claimed to be beset with visions of Christ telling her to create the feast of Corpus Christi.

After 40 years of advocacy, Juliana of Liège submitted the idea to the Pope with help from the Doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas. Pope Urban IV recognised the event as an official feast in 1264, extending the practice to the whole western Christian faith; although the authenticity of the holiday would become a matter of debate in the following centuries.

Today, Corpus Christi is a fully or partially recognised holiday in 25 countries around the world, including parts of Germany and Switzerland. This means that workers in these countries can kick back and enjoy a paid day off. However, it is not a holiday in all parts of Switzerland.

During the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s, the father of Protestantism Martin Luther spoke out against the use and celebration of consecrated items and holy bodies like the Eucharist, calling it only play-acting and vain idolatry. Luther especially disliked the use of symbols and figures during Corpus Christi, instructing his followers to not observe the holiday. 

Ulrich Zwingli, the man who would convert Canton Zurich to his form of Protestantism, also refused to observe the feast day for this reason. The Calvinists of Geneva also followed suit, along with most Protestant-dominant areas of Switzerland.

In 2023, Corpus Christi falls on June 8. In 2024, the holiday will be celebrated on May 30. Bear in mind that the date will always fall on a Thursday, providing an excellent opportunity for employees to take one day of paid leave to make a four-day weekend.

The feast of Corpus Christi was proposed by Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church, to Pope Urban IV, in order to create a feast focused solely on the Holy Eucharist, emphasizing the joy of the Eucharist being the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. Having recognized in 1264 the authenticity of the Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena of 1263, on input of Aquinas, the pontiff, then living in Orvieto, established the feast of Corpus Christi as a Solemnity and extended it to the whole Roman Catholic Church.

The feast is liturgically celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday or, where the Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is not a holy day of obligation, it is assigned to the Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity as its proper day.

At the end of Holy Mass, there is often a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, generally displayed in a monstrance. The procession is followed by the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. A notable Eucharistic procession is that presided over by the Pope each year in Rome, where it begins at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran and passes to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where it concludes with the aforementioned Benediction. Corpus Christi wreaths, which are made of flowers, are hung on the doors and windows of the Christian faithful, in addition to being erected in gardens and fields.

The celebration of the feast was suppressed in Protestant churches during the Reformation for theological reasons: outside Lutheranism, which maintained the confession of the Real Presence, many Protestants denied the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist other than as a merely symbolic or spiritual presence. Today, most Protestant denominations do not recognize the feast day, with exception of certain Lutheran churches and the Church of England, the latter of which abolished it in 1548 as the English Reformation progressed, but later reintroduced it. Some Anglican churches now observe Corpus Christi, sometimes under the name Thanksgiving for Holy Communion.

WHY IS CORPUS CHRISTI CELEBRATED ON SUNDAY?

The feast is liturgically celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday or, where the Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is not a holy day of obligation, it is assigned to the Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity as its proper day. This is to allow for greater reverence of the body and blood of Jesus Christ by almost every member of the church.

O DIVINE WORD WHO TOOK FLESH FOR HUMAN SAKE, REDEEM US IN OUR SITUATION

© Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa