I could not find a thread for Corpus Christi, and found no hits for it on this forum,
so it seems appropriate to make one here.

There is an article in the Cahtloic Encyclopedia on New Advent site, which goes into more detail on some points, but is lacking in scope.  Therefore,  I recommend the Wikipedia article for a summary as well as more breadth.

I copied the following list from Wikipedia, which has a history of the Feast day, including this: "In 1263 Pope Urban IV investigated claims of a Eucharistic miracle of a bleeding consecrated host at Bolsena. In 1264 he issued the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo in which Corpus Christi was made a feast throughout the entire Latin Rite.[5] This was the very first papally sanctioned universal feast in the history of the Latin Rite.[6] [^ Oxford history of Christian worship By Geoffrey Wainwright, Oxford University Press 2006 ISBN 0-19-513886-4, page 248]"

Corpus Christi is a public holiday in some countries with a predominantly Catholic population including, amongst others, Austria, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, East Timor, parts of Germany, Liechtenstein, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, parts of Spain and Switzerland, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

Wikipedia also shows some photos of Corpus Christi processions such as this one,
in Lowicz, Poland, 2007:



Full Resolution:


I had thought that was Our Lady of Czestochowa, but now it appears to be Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

Our priest gave a sermon yesterday, in which he described a Corpus Christi procession held in Montreal, Canada in 1889, where 10,000 people attended.

He said it was a marvelous outpouring of Catholic devotion, streets decorated with clean sawdust and sidewalks lined with evergreen boughs, draped with festoons of colored fabrics, and large banners across overhead showing pictures of Pope Leo XIII, Pius IX, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Images of monstrances, chalices, high altars, stained glass windows and other processions were found along the way on windows, doors and lamp posts all along the route. All the Catholics from the city were either in the procession or lining the streets: all the priests, nuns, brothers, students, families, and relatives. And all this in North America!

Thinking about the implications, it occurred to me that if this were a holy day of Obligation, that would mean two Thursdays in a row, Ascension Thursday and Corpus Christi -- but why stop there? Nine days later is the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And over the past week we also have had the Feast of Mary, Immaculate Queen. That adds up to 4 major feast days that occur on weekdays, all in 3 weeks.

I asked our priest about this and he explained to me that in other countries, it is common to find as many as 12 Holy Days of Obligation, but in the United States we have only 6. He said that at the founding of our country, Catholic immigrants were penalized by their Protestant employers for asking for so many days off work, and therefore, American bishops relaxed the customs of obligatory days down to 6: Christmas Day, Feast of the Circuмcision, Ascension Thursday, Assumption, All Saints' Day and the Immaculate Conception. And the downward trend continues. Too many Novus Ordo Catholics never show up on January 1st, especially when it falls on Saturday or Monday, and now there's talk of "moving" Christmas to the following Sunday, as well.

So, what do we have instead? Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day (no apostrophe anymore), Fourth of July, Labor Day and Thanksgiving Day. Together with a few others, it adds up to 10 Federal Holidays. Where does the word "holiday" come from? Holy Day. Notice: it used to be Presidents' Day, but that apparently was a transitional term to get rid of Abraham Lincoln's birthday. He has apparently been replaced with King, Jr., who was not a president.

Curiously, as we have Mass on several Thursday evenings during the year, the local city festival nearby is thumping its weekly Thursday loudspeaker noises all during our High Mass, the spirit of the World assaulting the Sacred Liturgy. And as soon as Mass is over, the festival outside stops. It was no different yesterday. I walked down the street and saw so many people who should have been at Mass, but here they were, behaving like pagans, oblivious to the fact that Holy Mass had been right around the corner as they cavort and spew their foul language. In ancient Rome, the Church was in conflict with pagan practices, too, and many faithful were martyred for their refusal to participate in the obligatory pagan rituals, such as burning incense to pagan deities.

In recent years, local bishops have reduced them by effectively dropping Ascension Thursday, by moving it to the following Sunday, which is a conflict with Trinity Sunday. You can cover one or the other, but you can't do justice to both in the same day. Curiously, this was the basis for the institution of Corpus Christi in the first place, since Holy Thursday not only commemorates the institution of the Eucharist, it also entails Christ's "new commandment" (First Antiphon of the Mandatum),  the washing of the feet, the blessing of the Holy Chrism and oils, and the Agony in the Garden, all in one day. Therefore, Corpus Christi seeks to give the Eucharist and its enduring benefits to the faithful its own day of recognition, apart from the other events of Holy Thursday.

Some people have to work on Sunday, as a matter of their employment, such as emergency workers or officers of the law, or utility company employees. They can sometimes arrange for a few hours in the morning so they can get to Mass, but then they have to go directly to work afterwards. Even so, they are able to sanctify the Holy Day to the best of their ability.

It seems to me that a dedicated observance of Corpus Christi as well as these other Feast Days in proximity (Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sacred Heart of Jesus and Ascension Thursday) all contribute to a deeper Catholicity in our lives and in our culture. We become better Catholics when we keep these days holy, as much as possible or practicable, as if they were "extra Sundays" in the year.

 

The ancient Rite of the Primatial See of Lyons has in its Missal a proper
preface for Corpus Christi. The text of the Preface recalls the formulary of the
Mass and Office composed by the great St. Thomas Aquinas for this wonderful
Feast. The Latin text of this Preface of the Most Holy Sacrament is here given,
together with an English translation:
 
Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutáre, nos tibi semper, et ubíque grátias ágere: Dómine sancte, Pater omnípotens, ætérne Deus. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. Qui remótis carnálium victimárum inánibus umbris, corpus et sánguinem suum nobis in sacrifícium commendávit, ut in omni loco offerátur nómini tuo, quæ tibi sola complácuit oblátio munda. In hoc ígitur inscrutábilis sapiéntiæ et imménsæ caritátis mystério, idípsum quod semel in cruce perfécit, non cessat mirabíliter operári, ipse ófferens, et ipse oblátio. Et nos, unam secuм hóstiam efféctos, ad sacrum invítat convívium, in quo ipse cibus noster súmitur, recólitur memoria Passiónis ejus, mens implétur grátia, et futúræ glóriæ nobis pingus datur. Et ídeo cuм Angelis et Archángelis, cuм Thronis et Dominatiónibus, cuмque omni milítia cæléstis exércitus, hymnum glóriæ tuæ cánimus, sine fine dicéntes: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dóminus Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.

Truly it is worthy and just, becoming and healthful, that we should ever and
everywhere make thanksgiving unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal
God: through Christ our Lord. Who, the empty shadows of carnal victims [of the
Old Law] being taken away, hath commended unto us His own Body and Blood as
sacrifice, that in all places it may be offered unto Thy name, which spotless
oblation is alone well-pleasing unto Thee. Therefore what He hath once wrought
upon the Cross doth not cease to marvellously work in this mystery of inscrutable
wisdom and immense charity, He Himself offering, He Himself being the oblation.
And us, being made one through this Sacrifice, doth He beckon us unto the sacred
banquet in which He Himself is received as our food, the memory of His Passion is
recalled, the soul is filled with grace, and the pledge of future glory is given unto
us. And therefore together with the Angels and Archangels, with the Thrones and
Dominions, and together with all the warriors of the celestial hosts, do we sing the
hymn of Thy glory, endlessly proclaiming: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.
The heavens and the earth are replenished with Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.



The Latin text given above are taken from the Missale Romanum in quo antiqui
ritus Lugdunenses servatur Apostolicæ Sedis auctoritate recognitum et
probatum (Lyons: Typis Emmanuel Vitte, 1956), approved by authority of His
Eminence Pierre Marie Cardinal Gerlier, Archbishop of Lyons and Vienna, and
Primate of Gaul, given on the 29th of June, 1953.

My missal has the Preface and Proper Communicantes for the Nativity to be used
for Corpus Christi. That is the Lasance New Roman Missal of 1945 vintage. That
was before 1953, to be sure. Was there something in the works before Vatican II
that would have revised the Roman Rite to some real improvements over what it
was at that time, and the Modernists sidetracked the real need perverting it into a
deconstruction instead of the needed improvement?

I wonder what happened here with Corpus Christi? If we're going to establish a
special Feast Day to set aside the institution of the Eucharist for its own unique
place, apart from Holy Thursday, why not a special Preface, too? And here, one
is already in use in Lyons in 1953. What's up with that???

Also, why is there no Communicantes proper to this feast in that missal? Maybe
that's a "too hard" question.

It seems to me that we're somehow missing a big opportunity for a full-value
treatment of this theme.

I'm beginning to think that it might be better if it spills over to one or even more
Sundays!

BEAUTIFUL!
Myrna, Thank you for sharing these wonderful pictures.  

Those are beautiful pictures, Myrna. Thanks for sharing.

God Bless.