Origins of the Solemnity
The Solemnity of Corpus Christi dates back to the 13th century. In Belgium, following the mystical experiences of Saint Juliana de Cornillon, a local feast dedicated to the Most Holy Eucharist was established in Liège in 1247.
Several years later, in 1263, a Bohemian priest on pilgrimage to Italy was afflicted by doubts about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. While celebrating Mass in the town of Bolsena, he experienced a Eucharistic miracle, when a few drops of blood were shed by the broken Host after the consecration. The very next year, in 1264, Pope Urban IV extended the feast of Corpus Christi to the whole Church.
Dogma of the Church
The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ – as it is now known – honours Jesus substantially present in the Blessed Sacrament. The truth of the Real Presence was confirmed in 1215 by the Fourth Lateran Council. Later, in 1551, the Council of Trent definitively re-affirmed the doctrine in a passage quoted verbatim by the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation” (cf. CCC 1376).
The Mass in Stained Glass at Blessed Sacrament
Have you ever taken a close look at our stained glass windows? They portray the parts of the Mass beginning with the Losey side and wrapping around the Church and ending in the Sanctuary. And we have St. Michael in the back of the side chapel. Check out the video below to take closer look at these windows that are meant to teach about the Mass.
Jesus is waiting in our Adoration Chapel
Jesus’s Presence in the Eucharist is in our Adoration Chapel every day. Come spend a few minutes with Him or be with Him from home with the video below.
Presence
FORMED.ORG offers an excellent series on this important doctrine of our faith: Presence the Mystery of the Eucharist
The Eucharist for Little Children
"Jesus said, Let the children come to me."—Mark 10:14
These simple words inspire us to lead our children to Christ. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is the primary way to experience communion with Christ. In The Eucharist for Little Children, your children will begin to understand the Real Presence of our Lord in the Eucharist. They will encounter Jesus in the solemnity of the Mass, the quiet of adoration, and the splendor of a Corpus Christi Procession. Your children will also experience the Lord through the traditional beauty of the Church, inspiring music, and the vibrant spirit of our host Jennifer Naimo. Jennifer brings her Broadway talent to a new dimension in this ministry to little children.
This video is a wonderful way to prepare your children for their first Holy Communion, as well as give them a better understanding of the Mass
Click HERE or on the image to watch on FORMED.ORG
The Body and Blood of Christ
In this informative presentation, Dr. Scott Hahn, a former Presbyterian minister, provides the Biblical basis for the Church's teaching on the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the significance of the Feast of Corpus Christi. It also gives us a greater understanding of our vocation to be the living presence of Christ in the world.
Click HERE or on the image to listen to this talk on FORMED.ORG
Lauda Sion - Ancient Hymn of Praise to the Eucharist
Laud, O Zion, your salvation,
Laud with hymns of exultation,
Christ, your king and shepherd true:
Bring him all the praise you know,
He is more than you bestow.
Never can you reach his due.
Special theme for glad thanksgiving
Is the quick’ning and the living
Bread today before you set:
From his hands of old partaken,
As we know, by faith unshaken,
Where the Twelve at supper met.
Full and clear ring out your chanting,
Joy nor sweetest grace be wanting,
From your heart let praises burst:
For today the feast is holden,
When the institution olden
Of that supper was rehearsed.
Here the new law’s new oblation,
By the new king’s revelation,
Ends the form of ancient rite:
Now the new the old effaces,
Truth away the shadow chases,
Light dispels the gloom of night.
What he did at supper seated,
Christ ordained to be repeated,
His memorial ne’er to cease:
And his rule for guidance taking,
Bread and wine we hallow, making
Thus our sacrifice of peace.
This the truth each Christian learns,
Bread into his flesh he turns,
To his precious blood the wine:
Sight has fail’d, nor thought conceives,
But a dauntless faith believes,
Resting on a pow’r divine.
Here beneath these signs are hidden
Priceless things to sense forbidden;
Signs, not things are all we see:
Blood is poured and flesh is broken,
Yet in either wondrous token
Christ entire we know to be.
Whoso of this food partakes,
Does not rend the Lord nor breaks;
Christ is whole to all that taste:
Thousands are, as one, receivers,
One, as thousands of believers,
Eats of him who cannot waste.
Bad and good the feast are sharing,
Of what divers dooms preparing,
Endless death, or endless life.
Life to these, to those damnation,
See how like participation
Is with unlike issues rife.
When the sacrament is broken,
Doubt not, but believe ‘tis spoken,
That each sever’d outward token
doth the very whole contain.
Nought the precious gift divides,
Breaking but the sign betides
Jesus still the same abides,
still unbroken does remain.
Lo! the angel’s food is given
To the pilgrim who has striven;
see the children’s bread from heaven,
which on dogs may not be spent.
Truth the ancient types fulfilling,
Isaac bound, a victim willing,
Paschal lamb, its lifeblood spilling,
manna to the fathers sent.
Very bread, good shepherd, tend us,
Jesu, of your love befriend us,
You refresh us, you defend us,
Your eternal goodness send us
In the land of life to see.
You who all things can and know,
Who on earth such food bestow,
Grant us with your saints, though lowest,
Where the heav’nly feast you show,
Fellow heirs and guests to be. Amen. Alleluia.
~St. Thomas Aquinas