Feast of Corpus Christi

Feast of Corpus Christi, festival of the Roman Catholic Church in honour of the real presence of the body (corpus) of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. A movable observance, it is observed on the Thursday (or, in some countries, the Sunday) after Trinity Sunday and is a holy day of obligation in many countries.

The Feast of Corpus Christi originated in 1246 when Robert de Torote, bishop of Liège, ordered the festival celebrated in his diocese. He was persuaded to initiate the feast by St. Juliana, prioress of Mont Cornillon near Liège (1222–58), who had experienced a vision. It did not spread until 1261, when Jacques Pantaléon, formerly archdeacon of Liège, became pope as Urban IV. In 1264 he ordered the whole church to observe the feast. Urban’s order was confirmed by Pope Clement V at the Council of Vienne in 1311–12. By the mid-14th century the festival was generally accepted, and in the 15th century it became, in effect, one of the principal feasts of the church.

The procession became the feast’s most prominent feature and was a pageant in which sovereigns and princes took part, as well as magistrates and members of guilds. In the 15th century the procession was customarily followed by the performance by guild members of miracle plays and mystery plays. After the doctrine of transubstantiation was rejected during the Reformation, the festival was suppressed in Protestant churches.