Corpus Christi: The Feast of our Eucharistic King

Fr. Scott A. Haynes

The solemnity of Corpus Christi, traditionally kept on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, is a radiant jewel in the Church's liturgical calendar. It is a feast wholly devoted to the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. This devotion, though tied to the sacred events of Holy Thursday, finds its independent celebration in Corpus Christi so that the faithful might adore the Eucharist without the overshadowing sorrow of Christ’s impending Passion.

The Link to Holy Thursday

Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the priesthood. On that night, Christ took bread and wine, pronounced the words of consecration, and gave Himself to His apostles. But the very same evening, He was betrayed, arrested, and subjected to His Passion. Thus, while Holy Thursday rightly honors the Eucharist, the joy of that gift is interwoven with sorrow.

Corpus Christi, established centuries later, separates out that joy and gives it full voice. The Church, in her wisdom, provides this feast to extol the Blessed Sacrament in the light of adoration, thanksgiving, and triumph.

Origins: The Vision of St. Juliana and the Miracle of Bolsena

The feast began through the humility and mystical life of St. Juliana of Liège in the 13th century. From her youth, Juliana experienced visions in which she saw the Church as a brilliant full moon with one dark spot, representing the absence of a feast solely dedicated to the Body and Blood of Christ. Our Lord Himself requested that this feast be established. After much resistance, the vision reached the ears of Pope Urban IV, who was then the Archdeacon of Liège and later became pope.

The divine prompt was confirmed by a miracle in Bolsena around 1263. A priest, Fr. Peter of Prague, was plagued by doubts about the Real Presence. As he celebrated Mass in Bolsena, the consecrated Host began to bleed onto the corporal and altar. Pope Urban, residing nearby in Orvieto, had the blood-stained corporal enshrined in the cathedral there.

Moved by this event, Urban IV instituted the feast of Corpus Christi in 1264 through the bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, and commissioned the Dominican friar St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the Office and Mass texts for the celebration.

St. Thomas Aquinas: Theology in Hymnody

Aquinas' compositions for Corpus Christi are theological treasures. One of the most profound is the Sequence "Lauda Sion Salvatorem", which offers a compact theology of the Eucharist:

"Sub diversis speciebus, signis tantum, et non rebus, latent res eximiæ.""Under different species, which are signs and not things themselves, lie hidden realities most sublime."

Here Aquinas teaches that beneath the appearances of bread and wine lies Christ whole and entire—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The Eucharist is not a mere symbol, but Christ Himself.

His hymn "Adoro te devote" offers a deeply personal expression of adoration:

"I devoutly adore Thee, hidden Deity, who beneath these appearances art truly hidden."

This spiritual poetry became the voice of the Church, theologically precise yet ablaze with love.

The Miracle of Seefeld

In the early 14th century, Count Oswald of Wolkenstein arrogantly demanded that the priest at Seefeld, Austria, give him the larger Host reserved for clergy. As he knelt to receive, the floor beneath him opened, and he sank waist-deep into stone. Only after hours of prayer and repentance did the floor release him. This miracle confirmed the sacredness of the Eucharist and remains a powerful lesson against pride and irreverence before the Blessed Sacrament.

The Church Fathers frequently emphasize this reverence. St. John Chrysostom warned:

"When you behold the Body of Christ set before you, say to yourself: Because of this Body I am no longer earth and ashes... This Body nailed and scourged was more for me than for the angels."

St. Ambrose taught:

"If the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, then the same Word can transform bread into His flesh."

Preparing Worthily: Confession and Adoration

Corpus Christi calls the faithful to approach the altar with holy fear and profound love. In a world where reception of Communion can be casual or thoughtless, this feast is a clarion call for renewal. St. Cyril of Jerusalem urged:

"Approach not with lips stained by sin or heart corrupted by pride. Prepare yourself through penance, so that you may receive not judgment but grace."

Preparation begins with frequent confession, examination of conscience, and sincere repentance. The worthy reception of Communion renews the soul, and post-Communion thanksgiving is essential. St. Teresa of Avila said:

"After Communion, keep your soul quiet and let Jesus rest there. Do not lose so great a grace by haste."

Eucharistic adoration after receiving Our Lord is one of the best ways to extend this thanksgiving and grow in intimacy with Christ.

A Foretaste of Heaven

The Eucharist is not only memorial, but a foretaste of eternal life. It is, as the Fathers taught, the pledge of future glory. St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing in the early 2nd century, called the Eucharist:

"The medicine of immortality, the antidote against death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ."

When we receive the Eucharist with devotion, we are united not only to Christ but also to the whole Mystical Body—the saints in glory and the faithful on earth. The Mass becomes the border between time and eternity, earth and heaven.

The External Solemnity in the United States

While traditionally kept on Thursday, Pope Leo XIII granted in 1893 the faculty to celebrate the External Solemnity of Corpus Christi on the following Sunday in the United States. This was to encourage greater attendance and devotion among the faithful. Thus, the feast's joy is accessible to more souls, and Eucharistic processions become a powerful public witness of the Church’s belief in Christ’s presence among us.

A Call to Devotion

Let this feast rekindle reverence, wonder, and gratitude. Let every genuflection be a prayer, every visit to the tabernacle a renewal of love. In the words of St. Francis of Assisi:

"Man should tremble, the world should quake, all Heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the altar in the hands of the priest."

May Corpus Christi renew in us a hunger for holiness, a thirst for the living God, and a longing for the eternal wedding banquet of the Lamb.

Let us adore forever the Most Blessed Sacrament. O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine.

Bibliography

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Aquinas, Thomas. Adoro Te Devote, Lauda Sion Salvatorem, and other hymns. In The Aquinas Prayer Book: The Prayers and Hymns of St. Thomas Aquinas. Edited and translated by Robert Anderson and Johann Moser. Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2000.

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Chrysostom, John. Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Translated by George Prevost and edited by Philip Schaff. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994.

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Ignatius of Antioch. Letter to the Ephesians, c. A.D. 107. In The Apostolic Fathers, Volume I. Translated by Bart D. Ehrman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.

Leo XIII. Acta Sanctae Sedis 26 (1893): 645–646. Concerning the extension of the External Solemnity of Corpus Christi in the United States.

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Pope Urban IV. Transiturus de hoc mundo. Papal Bull, 1264.

St. Teresa of Avila. The Way of Perfection. Translated by E. Allison Peers. New York: Image Books, 1964.

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Thurston, Herbert, and Donald Attwater. The Roman Missal: Explanation of the Mass Texts for Corpus Christi. London: Burns Oates, 1951.