Corpus Christi 2020: What is it? Why is a feast celebrated?

Corpus Christi is a religious Christian feast that is being celebrated on Thursday, June 11. Mostly celebrated by Roman Catholics, the feast happens in either late May or early June, on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday (60 days after Easter). Numerous Christians in the United States, especially those of the Catholic faith, observe Corpus Christi out of appreciation for the Holy Eucharist. It is otherwise called the Feast of Corpus Christi or Solemnity of the Most Holy Body of Christ, or Corpus Domini or the Day of Wreaths.

What is Corpus Christi?

Corpus Christi is a Christian feast praised every year on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday in celebration of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles before his crucifixion on Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday). Because of the solemn atmosphere of Holy Week, Holy Thursday, prompting Good Friday, doesn’t take into account a mind-blowing unfolding of festivities.

Corpus Christ is Latin for “Body of Christ” and is praised especially by those of Catholic faith, while most protestant denominations don’t perceive the feast. It is a moveable festival that relies upon the date of Easter and can happen as early as May 21 or as late as June 24.

Corpus Christi is a public holiday in numerous nations (or parts of nations) with predominantly catholic populaces. In nations where Corpus Christi is certainly not a public holiday, the feast is regularly celebrated the next Sunday.

Corpus Christi, signifying ‘the body of Christ’ in Latin, commends the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the actual body of Christ during Mass. In certain nations is the feast celebrated in mass yet they likewise parade the lanes with the blessed wafer as a public show that the sacrifice of Christ was for the salvation of the entire world.

The practice is less common in the UK than somewhere else, yet does at present happen with the wafer carried out of the church on a ‘monstrance’ and being protected from the sun by a canopy.

The Church of England celebrate the feast that day yet is known as the Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion. It is fundamentally a celebration of the way that the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is available in the bread and wine during the Eucharist – a re-enactment of the Last Supper, the last dinner that Jesus Christ shared with his followers. A similar sort of celebration is made on Maundy (Holy) Thursday during Easter week, which is viewed as a solemn, somber time for the church; Corpus Christi, interestingly, permits the church to emphasize the delight of the institution of the Eucharist.

Corpus Christi is seen as a public holiday in: Brazil, parts of Germany, parts of Spain and Switzerland, Austria, Bolivia, Portugal, Grenada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Peru, Poland, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, East Timor, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Panama, San Marino, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. The festival of the Corpus Christi feast was smothered during the Reformation in Protestant churches and consequently, most Protestants don’t perceive or celebrate the feast.

History of Corpus Christi

The development of Corpus Christi as a Christian feast didn’t occur until the second half of the thirteenth century with the endeavors of a nun called Juliana of Liège.

Since childhood, Juliana had been claiming that God had been disclosing to her that there ought to be a feast day for the Eucharist, and eventually she appealed to the Bishop of Liège. In those days bishops could order feasts in their nearby dioceses. The bishop consented to the feast and assembled an assembly in 1246 and ordered that a celebration of Corpus Christi ought to be held every year.

The Corpus Christi celebration just began to become more across the board after both Juliana and the Bishop had died. In 1264 Pope Urban IV gave the papal bull Transiturus in which Corpus Christi was made a feast all through the whole Latin Rite.

Corpus Christi is essentially a Roman Catholic feast, however, it is likewise recognized in the calendar of a few Anglican churches, most prominently the Church of England. It is additionally celebrated by some Western Rite Orthodox Christians. Across numerous parts of medieval Europe, Corpus Christi was a popular time for the performance of puzzle plays.

Alongside Lent, Advent, Easter, Pentecost, and Christmas, Roman Catholic Bishops must be available at their church buildings on Corpus Christi.

In Valencia, Spain, Corpus Christi is one of the significant celebrations. It was first celebrated in 1335 and continuously since 1372. Wealthy in symbolism and portrayals about the mystery of life, beholding back to the mystery plays of the middle ages, the celebration happens in the city of Valencia on the eighth Sunday after Easter Sunday.