Corpus Christi (feast)

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Corpus Christi procession in Lowicz, Poland, 2007

Corpus Christi Procession in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Corpus Christi procession in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, 7 June 2007

This article is about the Christian feast of Corpus Christi. For other uses, please see Corpus Christi.

Corpus Christi (Latin for Body of Christ) is a Christian feast in honour of the Holy Eucharist. It was originally assigned to the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, thereby mirroring Holy Thursday, the Thursday of Holy Week, the day on which Christians commemorate The Last Supper of Jesus Christ and his apostles, seen as the first Holy Eucharist. Many English-speaking countries celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday - on the Sunday after the traditional Thursday celebration in other countries. It is customary on this day, after Mass, to hold processions (often outdoors) with the Host followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

The appearance of Corpus Christi as a feast in the Christian calendar was primarily due to the petitions of the thirteenth-century Augustinian nun Juliana of Liège. From her youth she claimed that God had been instructing her to establish a feast day for the Eucharist and later in life petitioned the learned Dominican Hugh of St-Cher, Jacques Pantaléon (Archdeacon of Liège and later Pope Urban IV) and Robert de Thorete, Bishop of Liège. At that time bishops could order feasts in their dioceses, so in 1246 Bishop Robert convened a synod and ordered a celebration of Corpus Christi to be held each year thereafter. The decree is preserved in Anton Joseph Binterim's Vorzüglichsten Denkwürdigkeiten der Christkatholischen Kirche, together with parts of the first liturgy written for the occasion.

The celebration of Corpus Christi only became widespread after both Juliana and Bishop Robert had died. In 1263 Pope Urban IV investigated claims of a miracle in which blood had issued from a host. One alternate theory is that the blood was actually a clustering of Serratia marcescens, a reddish bacterium that often grows on bread.^{[citation needed]} Regardless, in 1264 he issued the papal bull Transiturus in which Corpus Christi was made a feast day. A new liturgy for the celebration was written by Thomas Aquinas.

While the institution of the Eucharist is celebrated on Holy Thursday, the joy of what is referred to in Greek as "the Holy Gift" (τὸ Ἅγιον Δῶρον) cannot on that occasion be well expressed, because of the nearness of Good Friday. This is given as a reason for celebrating the Corpus Christi feast at a different time of year.

Corpus Christi is primarily celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church but it is also included in the calendar of a few Anglican churches, most notably the Church of England. Anglo-Catholic parishes in other countries observe it unofficially. In Roman Catholic parishes that use the Mass of Paul VI, the feast is known as "the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ". In the Church of England it is known as The Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion (Corpus Christi) and has the status of a Festival. It is also celebrated by the Old Catholic Church and is commemorated in the liturgical calendars of the more Latinized Eastern Catholic Churches.

In some Catholic countries it is a national holiday.

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Corpus Christi procession in Poznań, Poland, 2004

Am Fronleichnamsmorgen, or Corpus Christi Morning by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller

The Feast of Corpus Christi, which is a moveable feast, is celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday or, in countries where it is not a Holy Day of Obligation, on the Sunday after Holy Trinity.

The earliest possible Thursday celebration falls on 21 May (as in 1818 and 2285), the latest on 24 June (as in 1943 and 2038). As is obvious, the Sunday celebrations fall three days later.

The Thursday dates until 2022 are: