What is Corpus Christi; Where, Why And How It Is Celebrated?

               What is Corpus Christi; Where, Why And How It Is Celebrated: Corpus Christi is a very religious Christian feast and is also known as Feast of Corpus Christi. The day is mainly celebrated by Roman Catholics, celebrating the real existence of the body as well as the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the elements of the Eucharist which is known as transubstantiation.

What is Corpus Christi?

The feast mainly occurs in either late May or early June, on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday (60 days after Easter) or the Sunday immediately following this.

The liturgy on that day also honors and remembers Christ’s washing of the followers’ feet, the foundation of the priesthood as well as the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The feast of Corpus Christi was formed in order to make a feast focused exclusively on the Holy Eucharist highlighting the joy of the Eucharist being the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

The observance of the Feast of Corpus Christi was suppressed because they do not hold to the teachings of transubstantiation for the duration of the Reformation in Protestant churches and therefore most Protestants do not very familiar with the day or celebrate the feast.

The Church of England brings to an end to this day in the year 1548 as the English Reformation progressed, but later after few years introduce again it.

When is Corpus Christi Celebrated?

The Feast of Corpus Christi is liturgically celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday or, “where the Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is not a holy day of obligation, it is assigned to the Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity as its proper day”.

Under Pope Paul VI, in the liturgical reforms of 1969, the bishops of every single country have the choice to transfer it to the following Sunday.

When is Corpus Christi This Year?

This year in 2019, the Feast of Corpus Christi is going to be celebrated on Thursday, 20 June 2019. The day is celebrated in various different countries with their traditional customs and lots of devotion.

How Corpus Christi is Celebrated?

Some of the people, mostly children, may celebrate their first Communion on this day. This practice is also known as Eucharist, and is celebrated all through the life of a Christian and is a time of devotion and worship when people believe they come together as one body to recall and rejoice the life and works of Jesus Christ. It comprises the receiving of bread and wine in memory of the body and blood of Christ.

Where is Corpus Christi Celebrated?

In some countries and their parts Corpus Christi is celebrated as a public holiday with a predominantly Catholic population comprising nations such as Austria, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Monaco, Paraguay, Croatia, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Haiti, (Jerusalem) Israel, Peru,  parts of Germany, Grenada, Liechtenstein, Poland, Portugal, parts of Puerto Rico, San Marino, Spain, parts of Switzerland, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as some parts of the United States, and Venezuela.

Dates for Corpus Christi from 2016 to 2024

Here is the list of the next coming occurrence of Feast of Corpus Christi: