Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - Corpus Christi:

"The Blessed Eucharist is the perfect Sacrament of the Lord's Passion, since It contains Christ Himself and His Passion"(St. Thomas Aquinas)

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Corpus Christi to honor the real presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood”, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore the whole Christ is truly, really and substantially contained. The presence is in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes Himself wholly and entirely present.”

In his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave Himself up for us. Therefore “Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Savior in faith, for since he is the truth, he cannot lie.” St. Cyril of Jerusalem

In August 1264, Pope Urban IV declared the feast to be held annually on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Thursday was chosen for this feast because it was on Holy Thursday that Christ offered His Body and Blood when he instituted the Holy Eucharist during the Last Supper before His Passion and Death on the cross. On this day, around the world, after Holy Mass, the faithful carry out a procession of the Blessed Sacrament displayed in a monstrance around the streets. The procession usually ends back in the Church and is followed by the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. In many countries the procession also includes a display of the cultural celebrations and traditions of the land.

History:

The Feast of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi can be mainly attributed to the works of Saint Juliana of Liege, a Norbertine canoness, who lived during the period AD 1191 – 1258. She is recognised as the promoter of the Feast of Corpus Christi, which was first celebrated in Liège in 1246, and later adopted for the universal church in 1264.

She and her sister Agnes were orphaned at a young age and were entrusted to the care of the Augustinian nuns at the convent of Mont-Cornillon. There she developed a special devotion for the Blessed Sacrament. She often longed for a separate feast day to honor the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. When Juliana was 16 she had her first vision which recurred several times later. Her vision presented the moon in its full splendour, crossed diametrically by a dark stripe. In time she came to understand that the moon symbolized the life of the Church on earth, the opaque line, on the other hand, represented the absence of a liturgical feast in honor of Christ's Body and Blood. Not having any way to bring about such a feast, she kept her thoughts to herself, except for sharing them with an anchoress, Blessed Eve of Liège, who lived in a cell adjacent to the Basilica of St. Martin, and a few other trusted sisters in her monastery. Around 1225, she was elected prioress of the double canonry and told about her visions to her confessor Canon John who had many contacts among the distinguished French theologians and Dominican professors which included Robert de Thorete, the Bishop of Liège, Hugh of Saint-Cher, the Dominican Prior Provincial for France, and Jacques Pantaleon of Troyes, Archdeacon of Liège, who later became bishop of the Diocese of Verdun, then Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and finally the Pope, ruling under the name Pope Urban IV. Canon John reportedly relayed Juliana's vision to these distinguished religious leaders. These theologians agreed unanimously that there was nothing in the devotion of the feast contrary to the Catholic faith and endorsed instituting it. In 1246, Bishop Robert instituted the first feast of Christ's Body and Blood for his own diocese of St. Martin. In 1261, the Archdeacon Pantaleon was elected Pope, and took the name Pope Urban IV.

In 1264, Pope Urban IV instituted the Solemnity of Corpus Christi on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday as a feast for the entire Latin Church, by the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo. He commissioned his chief theologian, Saint Thomas Aquinas, to compose an office for the Feast of Corpus Christi. This was the very first papally sanctioned universal feast in the history of the Latin Rite. The feast is traditionally celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but in the liturgical reforms of 1969, under Pope Paul VI, the Bishops of every nation have the option to transfer it to the following Sunday.

In 2017, Pope Francis moved the Vatican’s Corpus Christi observance from a Thursday to a Sunday because he thought that more people would be able to attend on a weekend.

“The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet Him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease.” St. John Paul II