More About Corpus Christi

The feast of Corpus Christi commemorates the institutions and gift of the Eucharist and is observed in the Western Church on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. While Maundy Thursday is the primary celebration of the institution of the Holy Eucharist, that day occurs in the midst of Holy Week, the most solemn time of the Church year, and there has been a long-felt conviction that a more joyful, festal celebration is needed. The feast was instituted largely at the instigation of a saint named Juliana, who died in the 13th century. She was a devout nun of the convent at Liege who had a vision which prompted her conviction that the church needed such a festival. The liturgy was added to the calendar of the Roman Church by Urban IV and it became universal during the 14th century. Thomas Aquinas compiled the liturgy for the day, and Anglicans still use many of the hymns he composed for that day.

The Liturgy on this day will consist of a Solemn Eucharist followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is is a brief rite in which the faithful are given a blessing by the celebrant holding the sacrament aloft in a device called a monstrance. In this way, the faithful who have just received Christ in Holy Communion can again meditate upon his presence in the sacrament and go forth from that liturgy blessed by the presence of the risen Christ.

You are welcome at this liturgy and we hope you will join us for the parish barbecue, too. Welcome to St. John's in the Village and welcome to the Feast of Corpus Christi.