The Collect of the Day
O God, who under a wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of your Passion; grant us, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of your Body and Bllod that we may ever feel within us the fruit of your Redemption .... (Roman Catholic)
God our Father, whose Son our Lord Jesus Christ in a wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of his passion: Grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of his Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit of his redemption ... (Episcopal, Thursday, Votive)
O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament have left us a memorial of your Passion, grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of your redemption. (New Roman Missal)
Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you that in this wonderful Sacrament you have give us a memorial of your passion: grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries of your body and blood that we may know within ourselves and show forth with our live the fruit of your redemption ... (Church of England)
Almighty God, your Son our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the wonderful sacrament of his body and blood to represent his death and to celebrate his resurrection: strengthen our devotion to him in these holy mysteries and through them renew our unity with him and one another .... (Church of South Africa)
O GOD, who in a wonderful Sacrament hast ordained unto us a Memory of thy Passion: grant us, we beseech thee, so to worship the sacred mysteries of thy Body and Blood, that we may ever know within ourselves the fruits of thy redemption .... (Anglican Missal)
SECRET / We beseech thee, O Lord, that like as we in these our oblations do shew forth in a mystery the unity and concord of thy Church: so thou wouldest ever mercifully bestow upon her these thy blessings .... (Anglican Missal)
The Readings
Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a (New Roman Missal, Year A)
Exodus 24:3-8 (New Roman Missal, Year B)
Genesis 14:18-20 (New Roman Missal, Year C)
Genesis 14:18-20 (Church of England)
Deuteronomy 8:2-3 (Church of South Africa)
Exodus 24:2-8 (Church of Australia)
1 Corinthians 11:23-29 (Roman and Anglican Missal)
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (Church of England)
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (Church of South Africa)
1 Corinthians 10:14-21 (Church of Australia)
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (New Roman Missal, Year A)
Hebrews 9:11-15 (New Roman Missal, Year B)
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (New Roman Missal, Year C)
Psalm 144 (Roman and Anglican Missal)
Psalm 116:10-17 (Church of England)
Psalm 147 (Church of South Africa)
Psalm 116 (Church of Australia)
John 6:56-69 (Roman)
John 6:51-58 (Anglican Missal, Church of England, Church of South Africa)
Mark 14:`2-`6 (17-21) 22-26 (Church of Australia)
John 6:51-58 (New Roman Missal, Year A)
Mark 14:12-16,22-26 (New Roman Missal, Year B)
Luke 9:11-17 (New Roman Missal, Year C)
The Solemnity of Corpus Christi (Body of Christ), now celebrated in the Latin Church on the Sunday following Trinity Sunday, commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Formerly celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, it paralleled Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday), which also commemorates Our Lord's institution of the Eucharist. Because Holy Thursday is in Holy Week, a season of sadness, the celebration of Corpus Christi was introduced so that the faithful would not lose sight of the institution of the Holy Eucharist.
Corpus Christi became a mandatory feast in the Roman Church in 1312. But nearly a century earlier, Saint Juliana of Mont Cornillon, promoted a feast to honor the Blessed Sacrament. From early age Juliana, who became an Augustinian nun in Liége, France, in 1206, had a great veneration for the Blessed Sacrament, and longed for a special feast in its honor. She had a vision of the Church under the appearance of the full moon having one dark spot, which signified the absence of such a solemnity. She made known her ideas to the Bishop of Liége, Robert de Thorete, to the Dominican Hugh who later became cardinal legate in the Netherlands, and to Jacques Panaléon, at the time Archdeacon of Liége and who later became Pope Urban IV. Bishop Robert de Thorete ordered that the feast be celebrated in his diocese.
Pope Urban IV later published the Bull Transiturus (September 8, 1264), in which, after having extolled the love of Our Savior as expressed in the Holy Eucharist, ordered the annual celebration of Corpus Christi on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. More than four decades later, Pope Clement V published a new decree which embodied Urban IV's decree and ordered the adoption of the feast at the General Council of Vienna (1311). Pope John XXII, successor of Clement V, urged this observance.
The processions on Corpus Christi to honor the Holy Eucharist were not mentioned in the decrees, but had become a principal feature of the feast's celebration by the faithful, and became a tradition throughout Europe. These processions were endowed with indulgences by Popes Martin V and Eugene IV.
Saint Thomas Aquinas was given the task of composing hymns for the celebration of Corpus Christi by Pope Urban IV. These are among the best known (and beloved) of all Latin hymns, because they were traditionally sung by the people during regular Eucharistic Devotions, as well as by the choir on Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi.
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