Transcription of The Establishment of the Feast of CORPUS CHRISTI
1 CORPUS CHRISTILI GE, BELGIUM, 1374 The Establishment of the Feast of Even though the Eucharist issolemnly celebrated every dayof the year, on one day we payspecial honor to the Body ofChrist. We may, of course,invoke the Lord with ourminds and our spirits at anytime, but we do not in this wayobtain the Real Presence ofChrist. With the Eucharisticcommemoration, however,Jesus Christ is actually presentwith us in his own the risen Christ told usprior to his Ascension: Andbehold, I am with you always,until the end of the age. ( , 20) ..He wouldremain and be with them evenby His bodily presence. PopeUrban IV: TRANSITURUSDE HOC MUNDO lessed Juliana of Cornillon, who lived in13th century Belgium, had a vision inwhich she saw a full moon darkened in onespot. She heard a mysterious, heavenly voice statethat the moon represented the Church at thattime, and the dark spot showed that a great feastin honor of CORPUS CHRISTI was missing from theliturgical calendar.
2 She reported this vision to thelocal ecclesiastical authority, the Archdeacon ofLi ge, Jacques Pantel on, who was later tobecome Pope Urban IV. In 1246,the Bishop of Li ge, Roberto ofThourotte, established within his diocese a feastin honor of the Holy Sacrament, and it was celebrated for the first time on June 5, 1249. In1264, Pope Urban IV (the former Archdeacon ofLi ge, to whom Blessed Juliana reported hervision) issued a papal bull extending the celebration to the universal Church. He alsocommissioned St. Thomas Aquinas to composethe Office for the Mass and Liturgy of theHours for the 2006, Istituto San Clemente I Papa e Martire / Real Presence Eucharistic Education and Adoration AssociationStained glass window depicting the vision of Saint JulianaMonstrance that is kept in the Sanctuary of Saint Juliana,Li geSaint Juliana
