The solemnity of the Corpus Domini (or of the Blessed Body and Blood of the Lord) is a feast of precept, closes the cycle of parties of the post -Easter period and celebrates the Mystery of the Eucharist established by Jesus in the Last Supper.
What are the origins of the party?
The anniversary was established thanks to a nun who in 1246 first wanted to celebrate the mystery of the Eucharist in a festival unrelated to the climate of sadness and mourning of Holy Week. His bishop approved the idea and celebration of the Eucharist became a party for the whole minting compartmentwhere the convent of the nun was. In reality, the festival sets its roots in the ambician Gallia Environment and in particular thanks to the revelations of the Blessed Giuliana di Retìne.
In 1208 the Blessed Giuliana, priora in the Monte Cornelio monastery at Liegi, saw during an ecstasy the shineing lunar disc of candid light, however deformed on the one hand from a line remained in the shade: From God he understood that that vision meant the Church of his time, which was still lacking in a solemnity in honor of the SS. Sacrament.
The spiritual director of Blessed, the canon of Liège Giovanni di Lausannehaving obtained the favorable judgment of several theologians regarding the aforementioned vision, presented the Bishop the request to introduce a party in the diocese in honor of Corpus Domini. The request was accepted in 1246 and the Thursday date was set after the eighth of the Trinity.
The relic of the corporal exposed in the Cathedral of Orvieto
What is the “Eucharistic miracle” of Bolsena?
In 1262 he climbed to the papal throne, with the name of Urban IVthe ancient archdeacon of Liège and confidant of the Blessed Giuliana, Giacomo Pantaleone. And it is in Bolsena, precisely in the Viterbo, the earth where the aforementioned cause has been opened that in June, the Festa del Corpus Domini is traditionally held in memory of a particular Eucharistic miracle that occurred in 1263.
It is said that a Bohemian priest, on a pilgrimage to Rome, stopped to tell Bolsena and at the time of the Eucharist, in breaking the consecrated host, it was pervaded by the doubt that it really contained the body of Christ.
To dispel his doubts, from the host then some drops of blood that stained the bodily white line of liturgical (currently preserved in the Cathedral of Orvieto) and some stones of the altar still kept in precious display cases at the Basilica of Santa Cristina.
Came to know the incident, Pope Urban IV He officially established the Festa del Corpus Domini extending it from the district of Liège to all Christianity.
The date of its celebration was set On the following Thursday the first Sunday after Pentecost (60 days after Easter).
Thus, on 11 August 1264 the Pope promulgated the bubble TransituruS which established the Festa del Corpus Domini for all Christianity from the city which until then had been infested by the patarini who denied the sacrament of the Eucharist.
What is the corporal procession?
Already a few weeks before promulgating this important act, on June 19, Pontiff himself had taken part, together with numerous cardinals and prelates who came from all place and a multitude of faithful, to a solemn procession with which the sacred linen stained of the blood of Christ had been placed through the streets of the city.
Since then, every year in Orvieto, the Sunday following the Corpus Domini holiday, the Corporal of the miracle of Bolsenaenclosed in a precious reliquary, is brought processionally on the city streets following the route that touches all the neighborhoods and all the most significant places in the city. Later the popularity of the festival grew thanks to the Council of Trent, the Eucharistic processions and the cult of the Holy Sacrament outside the mass.
What is the difference between Holy Thursday and the Corpus Domini festival?
If in the solemnity of Holy Thursday The Church looks to the establishment of the Eucharist, scrutinizing the mystery of Christ who loved us in the end by giving himself in food and sealing the new pact in his blood, on the day of Corpus Domini Attention shifts to the relationship between Eucharist and Church, between the body of the Lord and his mystical body.
The processions and prolonged adorations celebrated in this solemnity publicly manifest the faith of the Christian people in this sacrament.
In it the Church finds the source of his existence and his communion with Christ, present in the Eucharist in Body Blood Soul and Divinity.
When is celebrating and in which countries is it a holiday day?
Corpus Domini is celebrated the Thursday after the feast of the Holy Trinity Although in Italy, for reasons of opportunities, it was moved to the following Sunday.
In Rome the celebration, chaired by the Pope, begins in the Cathedral of San Giovanni in Laterano, and then ended with the traditional procession up to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore; The Holy Father presides it as a bishop of Rome. On the same date it is celebrated in those countries in which solemnity is also a civil party: in the Catholic cantons of the Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Croatia, Poland, Portugal, Brazil, Austria and San Marino.
In Italy And in other nations the public holiday day moved to the second Sunday after Pentecost, in accordance with the general rules for the order of the liturgical year and the calendar.
In the reform of the Ambrosian ritepromulgated by the Archbishop of Milan on March 20, 2008, this holiday was compulsorily reported on Thursdays of the II week after Pentecost with the possibility, for pastoral reasons, to celebrate it also on the following Sunday.
Numerous dioceses, in Italy, continue to propose to the faithful the celebration and the Eucharistic procession, at the diocesan level, on Thursday, leaving the celebration and the parish procession for Sunday.
What are the celebrations in?
On the occasion of the solemnity of Corpus Domini, after the celebration of the Mass, he carries in procession, enclosed in an ostensory below a canopy, a consecrated and exposed host of public adoration: he is worshiped Live and true Jesus, present in the Holy Sacrament.
