Western Christianity Roman Catholic Church , Germany In many countries, the day is a
holy day of obligation to participate in the celebration of
Mass and takes place on the Thursday after
Trinity Sunday. On that day or on the following Sunday, which is the feast day where it is not a holy day of obligation, it is traditional to hold in the streets of a town or in an individual
parish a procession with prayers and singing to honor the
Blessed Sacrament. During the procession, the
consecrated host is displayed in a monstrance held aloft by a member of the clergy. At the end of the procession,
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is imparted. In England and Wales the
Conference of Bishops decided in 2006 to celebrate the feast on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday, and they reaffirmed this decision in 2017 because Eucharistic Processions and other devotional practices could then more easily be conducted. The feast of Corpus Christi is one of five occasions in the year on which a diocesan bishop is not to be away from his diocese unless for a grave and urgent reason. , Philippines, where the monstrance is placed upon a canopied
carroza (processional carriage), rather than being held by a walking cleric. The
Archbishop of Manila,
Cardinal Jose Advincula, kneels before the Blessed Sacrament during the entire procession. A notable procession in the Philippines is that of the
Archdiocese of Manila. The
archbishop celebrates a mid-afternoon Mass at the
Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament in
Santa Cruz before presiding over a procession to his see at
Manila Cathedral.
Lutheranism Historically, the
Evangelical-Lutheran countries of Sweden and Prussia have marked Corpus Christi as a public holiday. Regarding certain observances held on Corpus Christi during his time,
Martin Luther spoke out against processing with the consecrated elements, which he viewed as "only play-acting" and "just vain idolatry". In one of his
postils (homilies), he wrote Many personal opinions of Martin Luther were not adopted by the
Lutheran Churches, however, and because Lutheranism retained much of the pre-Reformation liturgical and devotional practices, the Lutheran Reformation is generally considered to be the most conservative among the Protestant traditions. The Feast of Corpus Christi was retained in the calendars of the
Lutheran Church until about 1600. Lutherans were recorded to have prominent celebrations of the Feast of Corpus Christi in
Dessau (1532),
Brandenburg (1540), and Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach (1548). The Feast of Corpus Christi continues to be celebrated in certain Lutheran churches, particularly those of
Evangelical Catholic churchmanship.
Anglicanism The celebration of Corpus Christi was abolished in England in 1548. However, in the
Church of England, since the 2000 edition of "Common Worship", "the Thursday after Trinity Sunday may be observed as the Day of Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion (Corpus Christi)" as one of the church's
Festivals and with a special
liturgy. The feast is also celebrated by Anglican parishes of
Anglo-Catholic churchmanship, even in provinces of the Anglican Communion that do not officially include it in their calendars. ''McCausland's Order of Divine Service
, the most commonly used ordo'' in the
Anglican Church of Canada, provides lections for the day.
Old Catholicism and Western-Rite Orthodoxy Corpus Christi is also celebrated by the
Old Catholic Church, the
Liberal Catholic Church and by some
Western Rite Orthodox Christians.
Reformed Followers of the
Reformed tradition (including the
Continental Reformed,
Presbyterian and
Congregationalist denominations) do not observe the feast.
Eastern Christianity Byzantine rite: Italo-Greek and Ukrainian traditions Eucharistic devotion in
Byzantine rite before introduction of the feast of Holy Eucharist was primarily expressed in the offices of preparation to
Holy Communion, that borrow their structure from the liturgical hour of
Orthros (appropriate psalms followed by a
Canon and a sequence of prayers). In the most developed form, practiced in
old believer communities, the preparation for Communion includes also three minor hours adapted for the occasion. As both the devotion to the Eucharist and the texts that can be put to liturgical use existed by that time, the Byzantine rite Christians of South Italy who were in communion with the Pope at time of
Transitus de hoc mundo, were quick to arrange them into a new feast that was set on the same date as in the Roman Rite. From the beginning of the 14th century, manuscripts of Grottaferrata liturgical books include the feast of "Holy and Immaculate Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ", with liturgical texts taken from either preparation to Communion prayers, or the preexisting feasts, e.g. Holy Thursday. Over the following centuries, new texts were added to them. After the
Union of Brest, Ruthenian Greek Catholics gained access to educational institutions in Rome, and became familiar with Italo-Byzantine feast of the Holy and Immaculate Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This liturgical tradition became the foundation of adopting this feast in
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, having the Italo-Greek texts as its core, and adding some new proper compositions. In fact, before the standardization of the texts of the feast around the time of the
Synod of Zamoisk, it existed in existed several versions, that shows its "bottom-to-top" origins, as opposed to the idea of it being introduced forcefully by a Latin-minded central authority. The
monstrance which holds the host is surrounded by a Corpus Christi wreath of flowers.
Brazil and Portugal ,
São Paulo,
Brazil. Street carpets for the Feast of Corpus Christi () are made of different materials such as coffee grounds, flowers, sand, and salt.
Croatia In
Croatian language, there are various names for the Feast:
Sikirevci and southern
Baranja,
Luč, as well among
Croats of Vojvodina and
Herzegovina) with variations (
Brošančevo,
Brešančevo),
Božji dan (
Božji don; literally "Lord's Day") and
Božji blagdan (lit. "Lord's/God's Feast"). Feast (officially known as
Tijelovo) is a national holiday and non-working day in Croatia since 2001. Around churches and in the city centers processions are held, headed with priests carrying Blessed Altair Sacrament. They are usually followed by four men carrying a canopy above the Sacrament and children in white who throw flower petals (usually rose) along the way. The
Guild of Corpus Christi was common in English towns and centered around the feast, and one of these guilds transformed into
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Peru In the southern highlands of the
Cusco Region of
Peru, the festival of
Quyllurit'i is held near Corpus Christi in the Sinaqara Valley. As many as 10,000 pilgrims come from neighboring areas. Culminating on Trinity Sunday, this festival marks the return in the sky of the
Pleiades constellation, known in the
Quechua language as
Qullqa, or "storehouse", as it is associated with the upcoming harvest and New Year. The festival precedes the official feast of Corpus Christi, held the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, but it is closely associated with it. procession in the
Plaza de Armas The official feast on Thursday is a baroque display of religious syncretism between
Catholicism and
Incan traditions. Ten days before the main event, the Virgin of Bethlehem and Saint Joseph are taken in procession to the Church of Santa Clara. On the main day, the Eucharist is celebrated with a special mass and a
procession around the
main square, followed by a procession of saint images, including Saint Jerome, Saint Sebastian, Saint Anne, Saint Barbara, Saint James, Saint Blaise, Saint Anthony the Abbot, Saint Christopher, the Virgin of Remedies, the Virgin of the Nativity, the Purified Virgin, the Virgin of Bethlehem, and the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. The saints remain in the
Cusco Cathedral for eight days, where they are believed to "debate" the city's future and the behavior of the faithful. Afterward, they have a farewell procession around the
Plaza de Armas and return to their respective temples over the following week. The festival also features the consumption of "
chiriuchu," a traditional dish.
Poland In
Spycimierz in central Poland (
Gmina Uniejów), parishioners arrange a carpet of live flowers about one kilometre long. A solemn procession passes over it at 5 pm. Long carpets of flowers are also laid in four parishes in the Opole Voivodeship in southern Poland. Flower carpets tradition for Corpus Christi processions was inscribed on the
UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021.
Spain In Spain, Corpus Christi is celebrated in all dioceses. It has special relevance in Castilla-La Mancha, a community that marks this date as a holiday.
Andalucia The celebrations in
Seville are depicted in a section of
Iberia, the masterpiece of the composer Albéniz.
Castile-La Mancha Corpus Christi is one of the main festivals in
Toledo, Spain.
Castile and León In the village of Castrillo de Murcia near
Burgos, the celebration includes the practice of
El Colacho (baby jumping).
Catalonia In
Catalonia, Corpus Christi is celebrated with the tradition of the
dancing egg. There is evidence this tradition dates from the 16th century. The
Patum de Berga is a popular and traditional festival that is celebrated each year in the
Catalan city of
Berga (
Barcelona) during Corpus Christi. It consists of a series of "dances" (
balls) by townspeople dressed as mystical and symbolical figures. The
balls are marked by their solemnity and their ample use of fire and
pyrotechnics. It was declared a
Traditional Festival of National Interest by the
Generalitat de Catalunya in 1983, and as a
Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by
UNESCO in 2005. == Date ==