The celebration

The main feature of Corpus Christi celebrations is the triumphant liturgical procession in which the sacred host (the wafer that has been consecrated during the Mass) is carried out of the Church “for the Christian faithful to make public profession of faith and worship of the Most Blessed Sacrament”.

The practice is no longer common in the UK, where traditional processions started to wane in the 1970s after the Second Vatican Council. Attempts have been made to revive the tradition in some UK towns and villages in recent years.

During his papacy, Pope John Paul II led an annual Corpus Christi procession from St Peter’s Square in the Vatican to the streets of Rome. Many traditional Catholics are keen for such processions to be promoted everywhere in the world in the light of the late Pope’s example.

Since, for Catholics, the host contains the real presence of Christ, it is treated as Christ in human form would be treated, with reverence, ceremony and adoration.

The host is displayed on a ‘monstrance’ and protected from the sun by a canopy.

The procession moves through local streets, either to another church, or back to the church where it began.

The Church states that

The structure of the procession is often designed to demonstrate the hierarchy of heaven in that the sacred host is followed in procession by various Church organisations carrying the banners of their patron saints.

Churches may prepare for the festival in the days before by various smaller-scale ceremonies such as the Adoration of the Sacrament, and services which explore the ‘eucharistic dimension’ of various elements of parish work.

The liturgy

Corpus Christi is marked by a service originally devised by Thomas Aquinas. It includes five great hymns, including Panis Angelicus (part of a longer hymn called Sacris Solemniis, ‘At this our solemn feast’):
Pauper, pauper

History

The festival was inspired by the religious experience of St Juliana (1193-1258), a Belgian nun, who dreamed repeatedly of the Church under a full moon with a black spot.

According to legend, the dream was interpreted to her in a vision by Christ. The moon, she said, was the Church’s calendarof festivals and the black spot was the lack of a festival to celebrate the holiest element of the Church – the Eucharist.

Juliana shared this with her local bishop, who in 1246 issued a decree for such a festival to be celebrated in his territory.

The festival was instituted throughout the Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264. Before that there had been no universal festival to mark the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Corpus Christi was made an obligatory feast for Roman Catholics by Pope Clement V in 1311 at the Council of Vienne.

Corpus Christi was celebrated in England from 1318 onwards.

In 1551, the Council of Trent described the festival as a ‘triumph over heresy’. They meant by this that when Christians celebrated the festival they affirmed their belief in the doctrine of transubstantiation, and thus the victory of the Church over those heretics who denied that the consecrated wafer became the real body of Christ during the Mass.

From the Middle Ages onwards, special Corpus Christi plays were staged to mark the occasion.

Corpus Christi in Spain

The festival took an additional meaning in Spain, since it was always attended by the secular rulers of the area. The procession in Madrid was joined by the King and/or Queen, as well as senior nobles. This symbolised the unity of the sacred and secular powers and linked both in victory over outsiders.

Corpus Christi and Imperialism

Carolyn Dean makes a further interesting point about the Spanish celebration of Corpus Christi as acting out Spain’s colonial successes:

Geography

The festival has a particular resonance for Spain and Portugal, and countries in Latin America. In Seville the festival was known as ‘the Thursday that shines greater than the sun’.

In such countries the festival is popular and elaborate. The triumphal nature of the celebration is acted out by treating the sacred host almost as if it were a military hero returning in victory from the wars – the host may be carried on a cart (representing a chariot) through crowds and beneath triumphal arches erected for the event.

Historically, the festival was accompanied by music, dancing and fireworks.

There are Corpus Christi colleges at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and a major city of that name in Texas.

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Maundy Thursday 

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EucharistEaster Good Friday Last Supper foot washing

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Maundy Thursday, also called Holy Thursday or Sheer Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, observed in commemoration of Jesus Christ’s institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper.

The name is thought to be a Middle Englishderivation taken from a Latin anthem sung in Roman Catholic churches on that day: “Mandatum novum do vobis” (“a new commandment I give to you”; John 13:34). In most European countries, Maundy Thursday is known as Holy Thursday; other names are Green Thursday (Gründonnerstag; common in Germany), from the early practice of giving penitents a green branch as a token for completing their Lenten penance, and Sheer Thursday (clean Thursday), which refers to the ceremonial washing of altars on this day.

In the early Christian church, the day was celebrated with a general communion of clergy and people. At a special mass the bishop consecrated the chrism (holy oils) in preparation for the anointing of the neophytes at the baptism on Easter night. Since 1956 Maundy Thursday has been celebrated in Roman Catholic churches with a morning liturgy for the consecration of the holy oils for the coming year and an evening liturgy in commemoration of the institution of the Eucharist, with a general communion. During the evening liturgy the hosts are consecrated for the communion on Good Friday (when there is no liturgy), and the ceremony of the washing of feet is performed by the celebrant, who ceremonially washes the feet of 12 people in memory of Christ’s washing the feet of his disciples. Eastern Orthodox churches also have a ceremony of foot washing and blessing of oil on this day.

In England alms are distributed to the poor by the British sovereign in a ceremony held at a different church each year. This developed from a former practice in which the sovereign washed the feet of the poor on this day.

What Ash Wednesday is below

When the Roman Catholic Churches burn palm leaves to ashes and used the ashes to make the sign of the cross on the forehead of their members

Ash Wednesday derives its name from the placing of repentance ashes on the foreheads of participants to either the words “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or the dictum “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”[6] The ashes are prepared by burning palm leavesfrom the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations.

The papacy instituted Palm Sunday

9 Things You Need to Know About Palm (Passion) Sunday

Among other things to know, it is not necessary that palm branches be used in the procession. Other forms of greenery can also be used.

Why is Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem so important? What is going on here? (Photo: Register Files)

Palm Sunday — or is it Passion Sunday? — marks the beginning of Holy Week.

This day commemorates not one but two very significant events in the life of Christ.

Here are 9 things you need to know.

1.        What is this day called?

The day is called both “Palm Sunday” and “Passion Sunday.” The bible did not say anyone should use it as feast or celebration whatsoever

The first name comes from the fact that it commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the crowd had palm branches (John 12:13).

The second name comes from the fact that the narrative of the Passion is read on this Sunday (it otherwise wouldn’t be read on a Sunday, since the next Sunday is about the Resurrection).

According to the main document on the celebration of the feasts connected with Easter, 

The Papacy instituted all saint’s day