Corpus Christi: a feast that invites us to bring our faith onto the streets

This year marks the 759th celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi (Latin for “Body of Christ”) – also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Everyone is invited to join the procession and prayers this Thursday, beginning with 12:05 Mass at the Corpus Christi Cathedral and culminating with the procession at 6 pm, starting in front of the Cathedral.

About the feast’s origin, there is a Papal bull from 1264 in which Pope Urban IV instituted the feast, to be celebrated annually on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.

Legend says that the origin of Corpus Christi began with a Eucharistic miracle. In 1263, a German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at Bolsena, Italy, while on a pilgrimage to Rome. He lived through a faith crisis and found it hard to believe that Christ was actually present in the consecrated Host.

While celebrating Holy Mass above the tomb of St. Christina, he had barely spoken the words of Consecration when blood started to seep from the consecrated Host and trickle over his hands onto the altar and the corporal. The priest was confused and attempted to hide the blood, but then he interrupted the Mass and asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, where Pope Urban IV resided.

The Pope listened to the priest and sent emissaries for an immediate investigation. When all the facts were ascertained, he ordered the diocese's Bishop to bring the Host and the linen cloth bearing the blood stains to Orvieto. With archbishops, cardinals and other Church dignitaries in attendance, the Pope met the procession and, amid great pomp, had the relics placed in the cathedral. The linen corporal bearing the spots of blood is still reverently enshrined and exhibited in the Cathedral of Orvieto.

Pope Urban IV didn’t mention the miracle in his bull, so another explanation goes that St. Thomas Aquinas proposed to create a feast focused solely on the Holy Eucharist. He wrote the hymn Pange Lingua (Sing, my tongue) containing the verses of Tantum Ergo, which we still sing today during the Eucharistic exposition. And a third root goes to St. Juliana of Liège in Belgium (1193-1258), who had a vision in which God told her to establish a liturgical feast for the Holy Eucharist. She longed for a celebration of this extraordinary gift of God outside of Lent, and so she worked unceasingly to reach her goal. Once Jacques Pantaléon of Troyes, an Archdeacon of her diocese, became Pope Urban IV, the feast was made official for the whole Church.

By the mid-14th century, the festival was generally accepted, and in the 15th century, it became, in effect, one of the principal feasts of the church. It is often seen as “the most Catholic feast,” however, nowadays, it is a chance to show that our faith is important to us – no matter how strong it is, how many doubts we have, or how often we fail. God is promising us that He is with us and that He will nourish and strengthen us.

The Holy Mass is celebrated by Bishop Michael Mulvey at 12:05 pm at the Cathedral, followed by discussions focusing on the Eucharist, as well as time for adoration, confessions, and reflection. Then, everyone is invited to join the Eucharistic procession starting at 6 pm from Corpus Christi Cathedral to Mother Teresa Shelter, then Sacred Heart Church, Nueces County Jail, ending with benediction back at the cathedral.