The Feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, celebrates the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist
Read the full the Corpus Christi novena on the novena page. You can also learn more about novenas here.
What Does the Feast of Corpus Christi Celebrate?
A Norbertine canoness named Juliana of Liège, from Belgium, lived with a group of women dedicated to the Eucharist.
From 1208 to 1228, Christ appeared to her and told her to request the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi, and she eventually told her confessor of these visions, who then told their bishop.
In 1246, her bishop ordered the first celebration of Corpus Christi in his diocese.
The feast was proposed to the universal Church by St. Thomas Aquinas and was established by Pope Urban IV in 1264 through the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo.
The Feast of Corpus Christi is observed on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, which falls 60 days after Easter. However, in some places, it is celebrated on the following Sunday.
Corpus Christi celebrations include a solemn procession in which the Blessed Sacrament is carried through the streets of the community, accompanied by hymns and concluded by Benediction. Elaborate and beautiful flower wreaths and displays often accompany the procession.