The feast of Corpus Christi falls on Thursday 11 June. At Holy Family, we will celebrate the external solemnity of the feast on Sunday 14 June at the 10:30 am Mass, with procession of the Blessed Sacrament.

This feast, instituted in 1264, was inspired by two events. Earlier in the century, Saint Juliana of Mont Cornillon (AD 1193-1258) had visions of a beautiful full moon marked with a black spot, which signified to her that there was a missing feast on the liturgical calendar. She began to petition Church authorities to institute a feast in honour of the institution of the Eucharist. In 1263, a German priest on pilgrimage to Rome, Peter of Prague, stopped to offer Mass at the church of Saint Christina. Father Peter was plagued by doubts about the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Sacrament, but during this Mass in Rome these doubts were completely dispelled when the consecrated Host in his hands began to bleed. Taking the miraculous Host with him, he rushed to Orvieto to meet Pope Urban IV. The miracle was officially declared, the the Host is still on display for adoration in the cathedral of Orvieto today.

In response to these two event, Pope Urban IV—who had been archdeacon at Liege, the birthplace of Saint Juliana—published  the bull Transiturus instituting the feast of Corpus Christi. He commissioned the great Dominican theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas to compose the Mass propers for the new feast, which include the great sequence Lauda Sion Salvatorum, expressing the full richness of the doctrine and miracle of transubstantiation that takes place at every Mass.

As circumstances allow, a Eucharistic procession should be held on this feast day (or on the following Sunday as first permitted by Pope Leo XIII). In Catholic countries, those who live along the procession route decorate their homes with greenery, floral wreaths and banners, and put candles in the windows. Rose petals are strewn in the path of the procession, as the Blessed Sacrament is carried by the priest under a canopy. Bystanders kneel and men remove their hats as Our Lord approaches and passes by. Altars are erected outdoors, where the procession stops and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament takes place. By this act the local community, in a most striking manner, gives public witness to Jesus Christ as Lord and King.