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Adoring Christ Out Loud: Why We Celebrate Corpus Christi

The Feast of Corpus Christi (Latin for the Body of Christ) is one of the most beautiful and profound solemnities in the Catholic Church. It is a day entirely dedicated to celebrating the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist—His body, blood, soul, and divinity. While every Mass is a celebration of this sacred mystery, Corpus Christi allows the faithful to take their devotion to the streets. Through traditional Eucharistic processions, where the monstrance is carried through neighborhoods and towns, Catholics publicly witness to their faith, showering the Lord with adoration, hymns, and flower petals, and bringing His blessing directly into the world.

The origins of this glorious feast are rooted in the mystical visions of Saint Juliana of Cornillon, a 13th-century Augustinian nun from Belgium who had a deep fervor for the Blessed Sacrament. For years, she experienced a recurring vision of a full moon with a dark spot, which she understood to symbolize the Church’s liturgical calendar missing a feast dedicated exclusively to the Eucharist. Her lifelong advocacy eventually caught the attention of Jacques Pantaléon, the Archdeacon of Liège. When he was later elected to the papacy as Pope Urban IV, he championed her cause. In 1264, Pope Urban IV issued the papal bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, officially establishing Corpus Christi as a universal feast for the entire Church, forever cementing the profound connection between a humble saint's vision and the global liturgy.
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