Feast of Corpus Christi
Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use dmy dates {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#switch:Thursday after Trinity Sunday; 60 days after Easter, or the Sunday immediately following this|January 1|January 2|January 3|January 4|January 5|January 6|January 7|January 8|January 9|January 10|January 11|January 12|January 13|January 14|January 15|January 16|January 17|January 18|January 19|January 20|January 21|January 22|January 23|January 24|January 25|January 26|January 27|January 28|January 29|January 30|January 31|February 1|February 2|February 3|February 4|February 5|February 6|February 7|February 8|February 9|February 10|February 11|February 12|February 13|February 14|February 15|February 16|February 17|February 18|February 19|February 20|February 21|February 22|February 23|February 24|February 25|February 26|February 27|February 28|February 29|February 30|February 31|March 1|March 2|March 3|March 4|March 5|March 6|March 7|March 8|March 9|March 10|March 11|March 12|March 13|March 14|March 15|March 16|March 17|March 18|March 19|March 20|March 21|March 22|March 23|March 24|March 25|March 26|March 27|March 28|March 29|March 30|March 31|April 1|April 2|April 3|April 4|April 5|April 6|April 7|April 8|April 9|April 10|April 11|April 12|April 13|April 14|April 15|April 16|April 17|April 18|April 19|April 20|April 21|April 22|April 23|April 24|April 25|April 26|April 27|April 28|April 29|April 30|April 31|May 1|May 2|May 3|May 4|May 5|May 6|May 7|May 8|May 9|May 10|May 11|May 12|May 13|May 14|May 15|May 16|May 17|May 18|May 19|May 20|May 21|May 22|May 23|May 24|May 25|May 26|May 27|May 28|May 29|May 30|May 31|June 1|June 2|June 3|June 4|June 5|June 6|June 7|June 8|June 9|June 10|June 11|June 12|June 13|June 14|June 15|June 16|June 17|June 18|June 19|June 20|June 21|June 22|June 23|June 24|June 25|June 26|June 27|June 28|June 29|June 30|June 31|July 1|July 2|July 3|July 4|July 5|July 6|July 7|July 8|July 9|July 10|July 11|July 12|July 13|July 14|July 15|July 16|July 17|July 18|July 19|July 20|July 21|July 22|July 23|July 24|July 25|July 26|July 27|July 28|July 29|July 30|July 31|August 1|August 2|August 3|August 4|August 5|August 6|August 7|August 8|August 9|August 10|August 11|August 12|August 13|August 14|August 15|August 16|August 17|August 18|August 19|August 20|August 21|August 22|August 23|August 24|August 25|August 26|August 27|August 28|August 29|August 30|August 31|September 1|September 2|September 3|September 4|September 5|September 6|September 7|September 8|September 9|September 10|September 11|September 12|September 13|September 14|September 15|September 16|September 17|September 18|September 19|September 20|September 21|September 22|September 23|September 24|September 25|September 26|September 27|September 28|September 29|September 30|September 31|October 1|October 2|October 3|October 4|October 5|October 6|October 7|October 8|October 9|October 10|October 11|October 12|October 13|October 14|October 15|October 16|October 17|October 18|October 19|October 20|October 21|October 22|October 23|October 24|October 25|October 26|October 27|October 28|October 29|October 30|October 31|November 1|November 2|November 3|November 4|November 5|November 6|November 7|November 8|November 9|November 10|November 11|November 12|November 13|November 14|November 15|November 16|November 17|November 18|November 19|November 20|November 21|November 22|November 23|November 24|November 25|November 26|November 27|November 28|November 29|November 30|November 31|December 1|December 2|December 3|December 4|December 5|December 6|December 7|December 8|December 9|December 10|December 11|December 12|December 13|December 14|December 15|December 16|December 17|December 18|December 19|December 20|December 21|December 22|December 23|December 24|December 25|December 26|December 27|December 28|December 29|December 30|December 31=|{{#switch:Thursday after Trinity Sunday; 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the feast 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. The liturgy on that day also commemorates Christ's washing of the disciples' feet, the institution of the priesthood, and the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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, on input of Aquinas,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Unreliable source? the pontiff, then living in Orvieto, established the feast of Corpus Christi as a Solemnity and extended it to the whole Roman Catholic Church.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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".<ref name=RM>"Sanctissimi Corpus et Sanguis Christi." Roman Missal, 2011 Latin to English translation</ref>
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.<ref name="Wesier1956"/> 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.<ref name="Wesier1956"/>
The celebration of the feast was suppressed in many Protestant churches (especially those of a Calvinist persuasion) during the Reformation for theological reasons, because it celebrated the doctrine of the real presence. Though Lutheranism maintained the confession of the corporeal presence of Christ in the Eucharist via a sacramental union, in contrast, the Reformed affirmed a spiritual (pneumatic) presence. Today, most Protestant denominations do not recognize the feast day,<ref name =Britannica>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> 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.<ref name="Redeemer2006">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Some Anglican churches now observe Corpus Christi, sometimes under the name Thanksgiving for Holy Communion.
HistoryEdit
The institution of Corpus Christi as a feast in the Christian calendar resulted from approximately forty years of work on the part of Juliana of Liège, a 13th-century Norbertine canoness, also known as Juliana de Cornillon, born in 1191 or 1192 in Liège, Belgium, a city where there were groups of women dedicated to Eucharistic worship. Guided by exemplary priests, they lived together, devoted to prayer and to charitable works. Orphaned at the age of five, she and her sister Agnes were entrusted to the care of the Augustinian nuns at the convent and leprosarium of Mont-Cornillon, where Juliana developed a special veneration for the Blessed Sacrament.<ref name=zenit>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
She always longed for a feast day outside of Lent in its honour. Her vita reports that this desire was enhanced by a vision of the church under the appearance of the full moon having one dark spot, which signified the absence of such a solemnity.<ref name=mershman>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Vie de Sainte Julienne de Cornillon, edited by J.-P. Delville, Published by the Institute of Medieval Studies at the Catholic University at Louvain, pp. 120–123</ref> In 1208, she reported her first vision of Christ in which she was instructed to plead for the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi. The vision was repeated for the next 20 years but she kept it a secret. When she eventually relayed it to her confessor, he relayed it to the bishop.<ref>Phyllis Jestice, Holy people of the world Published by ABC-CLIO, 2004 Template:ISBN p. 457</ref>
Juliana also petitioned the learned Dominican Hugh of St-Cher, and Robert de Thorete, Bishop of Liège. At that time bishops could order feasts in their dioceses, so Bishop Robert ordered in 1246 a celebration of Corpus Christi to be held in the diocese each year thereafter on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.<ref>Barbara R. Walters, The Feast of Corpus Christi (Penn State Press 2006 Template:ISBN), p. 9</ref><ref>The decree is preserved in Anton Joseph Binterim, Vorzüglichsten Denkwürdigkeiten der Christkatholischen Kirche (Mainz, 1825–41), together with parts of the first liturgy written for the occasion.</ref><ref name=EB1911>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> The first such celebration occurred at St Martin's Church in the city that same year.
Hugh of St-Cher travelled to Liège as Cardinal-Legate in 1251 and, finding that the feast was not being observed, reinstated it. In the following year, he established the feast for his whole jurisdiction (Germany, Dacia, Bohemia, and Moravia), to be celebrated on the Thursday after the Octave of Trinity (one week later than had been indicated for Liège), but with a certain elasticity, for he granted an indulgence for all who confessed their sins and attended church "on a date and in a place where [the feast] was celebrated".<ref name="Walter 12">Walters (2006), p. 12</ref>
Jacques Pantaléon of Troyes was also won over to the cause of the Feast of Corpus Christi during his ministry as Archdeacon in Liège under the diocesan bishop Robert of Thourotte. It was he who, having become Pope as Urban IV in 1264, instituted the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on the Thursday after Pentecost as a feast for the entire Latin Church, by the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo.<ref name=zenit/><ref name="Walter 12" /> The legend that this act was inspired by a procession to Orvieto in 1263, after a priest Peter of Prague<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and his congregation witnessed a Eucharistic miracle of a bleeding consecrated host at Bolsena,<ref name=EB1911/> has been called into question by scholars who note problems in the dating of the miracle, whose tradition begins in the 14th century, and the interests of Urban IV, a former Archdeacon in Liège.Template:Citation needed
Though this was the first papally imposed universal feast for the Latin Church,<ref>Oxford History of Christian Worship by Geoffrey Wainwright, Oxford University Press 2006 Template:ISBN, p. 248</ref> it was not widely celebrated for half a century. It was adopted by a number of dioceses in Germany and by the Cistercians, and in 1295 was celebrated in Venice.<ref name=Rubin>Miri Rubin, Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture (Cambridge University Press 1991 Template:ISBN), pp. 181–182</ref> It became a truly universal feast only after the bull of Urban IV was included in the collection of laws known as the Clementines, compiled under Pope Clement V, but promulgated only by his successor Pope John XXII in 1317.<ref name=Rubin/><ref>Walters (2006), p. 13</ref>
While the institution of the Eucharist is celebrated on Holy (Maundy) Thursday, the liturgy on that day also commemorates Christ's washing of the disciples' feet, the institution of the priesthood and the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. So many other functions took place on this day that the principal event was almost lost sight of. This is mentioned in the Bull Transiturus as the chief reason for the introduction of the new feast. Hence, the feast of Corpus Christi was established to create a feast focused solely on the Holy Eucharist.<ref name=mershman/>
Three versions of the office for the feast of Corpus Christi in extant manuscripts provide evidence for the Liège origins and voice of Juliana in an original office, which was followed by two later versions of the office. A highly sophisticated and polished version can be found in BNF 1143, a musical manuscript devoted entirely to the feast, upon which there is wide scholarly agreement: the version in BNF 1143 is a revision of an earlier version found in Prague, Abbey of Strahov MS D.E.I. 7, and represents the work of Thomas Aquinas following or during his residency at Orvieto from 1259 to 1265. The office can also be found in the 1343 codex Regimen Animarum.<ref name="office of new feast">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp This liturgy may be used as a votive Mass of the Blessed Sacrament on weekdays in ordinary time.<ref>General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 375</ref> The hymn Aquinas composed for Vespers of Corpus Christi, Pange Lingua or another eucharistic hymn, is also used on Maundy Thursday during the procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the altar of repose.<ref>Roman Missal, Mass of the Lord's Supper, 38</ref>
The last two verses of Pange Lingua are also used as a separate hymn, Tantum Ergo, which is sung at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. O Salutaris Hostia, another hymn sung at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, comprises the last two verses of Verbum Supernum Prodiens, Aquinas' hymn for Lauds of Corpus Christi. Aquinas also composed the propers for the Mass of Corpus Christi, including the sequence Lauda Sion Salvatorem. The epistle reading for the Mass was taken from Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (Template:Bibleverse), and the Gospel reading was taken from the Gospel of John (Template:Bibleverse).
When Pope Pius V revised the General Roman Calendar (see Tridentine calendar), Corpus Christi was one of only two "feasts of devotion" that he kept, the other being Trinity Sunday.<ref>Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 66</ref> In that calendar, Corpus Christi was celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.<ref>Manlio Sodi, Achille Maria Triacca (editors), Missale Romanum: Editio Princeps (1570) (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1998 Template:ISBN), pp. 399–401</ref> The feast had an octave until 1955, when Pope Pius XII suppressed all octaves, even in local calendars, except those of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost (see General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII).
From 1849 until 1969, a separate Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ was assigned originally to the first Sunday in July, later to the first day of the month. This feast was removed from the General Roman Calendar in 1969, "because the Most Precious Blood of Christ the Redeemer is already venerated in the solemnities of the Passion, of Corpus Christi and of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and in the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. But the Mass of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ is placed among the votive Masses".<ref>Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 128</ref>
CelebrationEdit
Western ChristianityEdit
Roman Catholic ChurchEdit
The feast of Corpus Christi is one of five occasions in the year on which a diocesan bishop is not to be away from his diocese unless for a grave and urgent reason.<ref>Code of Canon Law, canon 395 §3</ref>
In many countries, the day is a holy day of obligation to participate in the celebration of Mass and takes place on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. On that day or on the following Sunday, which is the feast day where it is not a holy day of obligation, it is traditional to hold in the streets of a town or in an individual parish a procession with prayers and singing to honor the Blessed Sacrament. During the procession, the consecrated host is displayed in a monstrance held aloft by a member of the clergy. At the end of the procession, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is imparted.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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A notable procession in the Philippines is that of the Archdiocese of Manila. The archbishop celebrates a mid-afternoon Mass at the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in Santa Cruz before presiding over a procession to the Manila Cathedral.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
LutheranismEdit
Martin Luther spoke out against processing with the consecrated elements, which he viewed as "only play-acting" and "just vain idolatry". In one of his postils (homilies), he wrote
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
I am to no festival more hostile … than this one. Because it is the most shameful festival. At no festival are God and his Christ more blasphemed, than on this day, and particularly by the procession. For then people are treating the Blessed Sacrament with such ignominy that it becomes only play-acting and is just vain idolatry. With its cosmetics and false holiness it conflicts with Christ's order and establishment. Because He never commanded us to carry on like this. Therefore, beware of such worship!<ref>Luther Martin: Auslegung von Joh 6. 1530, Kirchenpostille 1521, Tischreden</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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Many personal opinions of Martin Luther were not adopted by the Lutheran Churches, however, and because Lutheranism retained much of the pre-Reformation liturgical and devotional practices, the Lutheran Reformation is generally considered to be the most conservative among the Protestant traditions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Feast of Corpus Christi was retained in the calendars of the Lutheran Church until about 1600.<ref>Frank Senn: Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical, Fortress Press, 1997. p. 344. Template:ISBN</ref> Lutherans were recorded to have prominent celebrations of the Feast of Corpus Christi in Dessau (1532), Brandenburg (1540), and Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach (1548).<ref name="Herl2008">Template:Cite book</ref> The Feast of Corpus Christi continues to be celebrated in certain Lutheran churches, particularly those of Evangelical Catholic churchmanship.<ref name="Redeemer2006"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
AnglicanismEdit
The celebration of Corpus Christi was abolished in England in 1548.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Rogerson>Template:Cite book</ref> However, in the Church of England since the 2000 edition of "Common Worship," "the Thursday after Trinity Sunday may be observed as The Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion (Corpus Christi)" as one of the church's Festivals and with a special liturgy.<ref>The Church of England: Festivals</ref>
The feast is also celebrated by Anglican parishes of Anglo-Catholic churchmanship, even in provinces of the Anglican Communion that do not officially include it in their calendars. McCausland's Order of Divine Service, the most commonly used ordo in the Anglican Church of Canada, provides lections for the day.Template:Citation needed
Old Catholicism and Western-Rite OrthodoxyEdit
Corpus Christi is also celebrated by the Old Catholic Church, the Liberal Catholic Church and by some Western Rite Orthodox Christians.
ReformedEdit
Followers of the Reformed tradition (including the Continental Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregationalist denominations) do not observe the feast.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Eastern ChristianityEdit
Byzantine rite: Italo-Greek and Ukrainian traditionsEdit
Eucharistic devotion in Byzantine rite before introduction of the feast of Holy Eucharist was primarily expressed in the offices of preparation to Holy communion, that borrow their structure from the liturgical hour of Orthos (appropriate psalms followed by a Canon and a sequence of prayers). In the most developed form, practiced in old believer communities, the preparation for Communion includes also three minor hours adapted for the occasion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
As both the devotion to the Eucharist and the texts that can be put to liturgical use existed by that time, the Byzantine rite Christians of South Italy who were in communion with the Pope at time of Transitus de hoc mundo, were quick to arrange them into a new feast that was set on the same date as in the Latin rite. From the beginning of the 14th century, manuscripts of Grottaferrata liturgical books include the feast of "Holy and Immaculate Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ", with liturgical texts taken from either preparation to Communion prayers, or the preexisting feasts, e.g. Holy Thursday. Over the following centuries, new texts were added to them.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>
After the Union of Brest, Ruthenian Greek Catholics gained access to educational institutions in Rome, and became familiar with Italo-Byzantine feast of the Holy and Immaculate Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This liturgical tradition became the foundation of adopting this feast in Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, having the Italo-Greek texts as its core, and adding some new proper compositions. In fact, before the standardization of the texts of the feast around the time of the Synod of Zamoisk, it existed in existed several versions, that shows its "bottom-to-top" origins, as opposed to the idea of it being introduced forcefully by a Latin-minded central authority.<ref name=":0" /> The only properly Latin elements of the celebration were the Synaxarion that is adapted from a homily of Thomas Aquinas and the procession with the Holy Gifts. In the current use of UGCC, both of these elements are excluded.
Folk traditionsEdit
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On the eve of the Feast of Corpus Christi, clergy bless Corpus Christi wreaths that are made of flowers.<ref name="Wesier1956"/> Corpus Christi wreaths and bouquets are often "attached to flags and banners, to houses, and to the arches of green boughs that span the streets."<ref name="Wesier1956"/> In Christian homes, these Corpus Christi wreaths are suspended on walls or displayed on doors and in windows.<ref name="Wesier1956"/> Corpus Christi wreaths are also "put up in gardens, fields, and pastures, with a prayer for protection and blessing upon the growing harvest."<ref name="Wesier1956"/>
Throughout Christendom, "the custom developed of carrying the Blessed Sacrament in a splendid procession through the town after the Mass on Corpus Christi Day."<ref name="Wesier1956">Template:Cite book</ref> The monstrance which holds the host is surrounded by a Corpus Christi wreath of flowers.<ref name="Wesier1956"/> During the procession, church bells are rung and "the faithful kneel in front of their homes to adore the Eucharistic Lord."<ref name="Wesier1956"/> Along the route in which the procession occurs, Christian homes "are decorated with little birch trees and green boughs", with candles being lit in the windows.<ref name="Wesier1956"/> Oftentimes, stops are made at various points called "stations" during the procession and "the Blessed Sacrament is put on an altar table" while a Gospel passage is read and hymns are sung, along with prayer being made.<ref name="Wesier1956"/>
AustriaEdit
Corpus Christi is not only a high festival of the Catholic church year in Austria, but also a public holiday. This is always celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity, which means it can take place between May 21 and June 24.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Brazil and PortugalEdit
Street carpets for the Feast of Corpus Christi ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) are made of different materials such as coffee grounds, flowers, sand, and salt.<ref>Fiéis montam 4 km de tapete em São Gonçalo</ref>
CroatiaEdit
In Croatian language, there are various names for the Feast:<ref name=ExinCro/> Brašančevo (after hypocorism brašance of the noun brašno, meaning "flour"; dating from 18th century and used in Požega area,Template:Sfn Otok, Varoš,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Sikirevci<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and southern Baranja,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Luč, as well among Croats of Vojvodina and Herzegovina<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>) with variations (Brošančevo, Brešančevo),<ref name=znate/> Korosante (from Latin Corpo Sancto; used in Dubrovnik area and Pelješac),Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Božji dan (Božji don; literally "Lord's Day") and Božji blagdan (lit. "Lord's/God's Feast").<ref name=znate>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Feast (officially known as Tijelovo) is a national holiday and non-working day in Croatia since 2001.<ref name=ExinCro>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Around churches and in the city centers processions are held, headed with priests carrying Blessed Altair Sacrament. They are usually followed by four men carrying a canopy above the Sacrament and children in white who throw flower petals (usually rose) along the way.<ref name=ExinCro/>
EnglandEdit
In medieval times in many parts of Europe, Corpus Christi was a time for the performance of mystery plays. The plays in York, England, were performed on Corpus Christi Day for some 200 years until their suppression in the sixteenth century during the Protestant Reformation.<ref name=BK>Template:Cite book</ref>
PeruEdit
In the southern highlands of the Cusco Region of Peru, the festival of Quyllurit'i is held near Corpus Christi in the Sinaqara Valley. As many as 10,000 pilgrims come from neighboring areas. Culminating on Trinity Sunday, this festival marks the return in the sky of the Pleiades constellation, known in the Quechua language as Qullqa, or "storehouse", as it is associated with the upcoming harvest and New Year. The festival precedes the official feast of Corpus Christi, held the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, but it is closely associated with it.<ref name="fioravanti">Antoinette Molinié Fioravanti, Celebrando el Cuerpo de Dios (Corpus Christi Festival), Fondo Editorial PUCP, 1999, pp. 197–198Template:In lang</ref>
The official feast on Thursday is a baroque display of religious syncretism between Catholicism and Incan traditions. Ten days before the main event, the Virgin of Bethlehem and Saint Joseph are taken in procession to the Church of Santa Clara. On the main day, the Eucharist is celebrated with a special mass and a procession around the main square, followed by a procession of saint images, including Saint Jerome, Saint Sebastian, Saint Anne, Saint Barbara, Saint James, Saint Blaise, Saint Anthony the Abbot, Saint Christopher, the Virgin of Remedies, the Virgin of the Nativity, the Purified Virgin, the Virgin of Bethlehem, and the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The saints remain in the Cusco Cathedral for eight days, where they are believed to "debate" the city's future and the behavior of the faithful. Afterward, they have a farewell procession around the Plaza de Armas and return to their respective temples over the following week. The festival also features the consumption of "chiriuchu," a traditional dish.
PolandEdit
In Spycimierz in central Poland (Gmina Uniejów), parishioners arrange a carpet of live flowers about one kilometre long. A solemn procession passes over it at 5 pm.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Long carpets of flowers are also laid in four parishes in the Opole Voivodeship in southern Poland. Flower carpets tradition for Corpus Christi processions was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021.<ref>"Elements inscribed in 2021 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/flower-carpets-tradition-for-corpus-christi-processions-01743</ref>
SpainEdit
In Spain, Corpus Christi is celebrated in all dioceses. It has special relevance in Castilla-La Mancha, a community that marks this date as a holiday.<ref>Corpus Christi</ref>
AndaluciaEdit
The celebrations in Seville are depicted in a section of Iberia, the masterpiece of the composer Albéniz.
Castile-La ManchaEdit
Corpus Christi is one of the main festivals in Toledo, Spain.Template:Citation needed
Castile and LeónEdit
In the village of Castrillo de Murcia near Burgos, the celebration includes the practice of El Colacho (baby jumping).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
CataloniaEdit
In Catalonia, Corpus Christi is celebrated with the tradition of the dancing egg. There is evidence this tradition dates from the 16th century.<ref>VilaWeb TV: L'Ou com Balla a Ca l'Ardiaca Template:In lang</ref>
The Patum de Berga is a popular and traditional festival that is celebrated each year in the Catalan city of Berga (Barcelona) during Corpus Christi. It consists of a series of "dances" (balls) by townspeople dressed as mystical and symbolical figures. The balls are marked by their solemnity and their ample use of fire and pyrotechnics. It was declared a Traditional Festival of National Interest by the Generalitat de Catalunya in 1983, and as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005.<ref>info at UNESCO.org</ref>
DateEdit
| Year | Thursday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|
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| Template:LASTYEAR | Template:Moveable date }} | Template:Moveable date+3 days}} |
| Template:LASTYEAR | Template:Moveable date }} | Template:Moveable date+3 days}} |
| 2025 | {{#time: F j| Template:Moveable date }} | {{#time: F j| Template:Moveable date+3 days}} |
| Template:NEXTYEAR | Template:Moveable date }} | Template:Moveable date+3 days}} |
| Template:NEXTYEAR | Template:Moveable date }} | Template:Moveable date+3 days}} |
| Template:NEXTYEAR | Template:Moveable date }} | Template:Moveable date+3 days}} |
| Template:NEXTYEAR | Template:Moveable date }} | Template:Moveable date+3 days}} |
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Template:More citations needed section Corpus Christi is a moveable feast, celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday,<ref name=mershman/> 60 days after Easter, or, in countries where it is not a holy day of obligation, on the following Sunday.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The earliest possible Thursday celebration falls on May 21 (as in 1818 and 2285), the latest on June 24 (as in 1943 and 2038). The Sunday celebration of the feast, introduced in the second half of the 20th century, occurs three days later, between May 24 at earliest (for the first time in 2285) and June 27 at latest (for the first time in 2038). For Western Rite Orthodox Christians, since they use the Julian calendar, at least for all Feast Days dependent on the date of Pascha, their date of the celebration of Corpus Christi, translates to, in the Gregorian calendar, from June 3 at the earliest, to July 7, at the latest.
Corpus Christi is a public holiday in some countries with a predominantly Catholic population including, among others, Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia,<ref name=ExinCro/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} Archived in Croatian Web Archive (HAW).</ref> Dominican Republic, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, parts of Germany, Grenada, Haiti, Jerusalem in Israel, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Saint Lucia, San Marino, Spain, parts of Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, parts of the United States (including parts of Puerto Rico), and Venezuela.Template:Citation needed
See alsoEdit
Template:Portal Template:Div col
- Adoro te devote
- Dancing devils of Corpus Christi
- Feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary
- Feast of the Sacred Heart
- Lauda Sion
- List of festivals in Costa Rica
- Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium
- Sacris solemniis
- Spello's Infiorate
- Transubstantiation
- Verbum Supernum Prodiens
LiteratureEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Corpus Christi, with order for procession at www.therealpresence.org
- Feast of Corpus Christi: History
- Carthusians and Corpus Christi
- Corpus Christi background, from www.haverford.edu
- Traditional Corpus Christi celebrations in Panama
- Thomas M Landy, "Feasts, Processions & Festivals", Catholics & Cultures updated 12 June 2017
Template:Liturgical year of the Catholic Church Template:Tridentine Latin Mass