Posts
 |
| © Real Presence Association uploaded by Speramus-We Hope w permisssion |
The appearance of Corpus Christi as a feast in the Christian calendar was primarily due to the petitions of the thirteenth-century Augustinian nun St. Juliana of Liège. From her early youth St. Juliana had a veneration for the Blessed Sacrament, and always longed for a special feast in its honour. This desire is said to have been increased by a vision of the Church under the appearance of the full moon having one dark spot, which signified the absence of such a solemnity. In 1208 she reported her first vision of Christ in which she was instructed to plead for the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi. The vision was repeated for the next 20 years but she kept it a secret. When she eventually relayed it to her confessor, he relayed it to the bishop.
St. Juliana also petitioned the learned Dominican Hugh of St-Cher, Jacques Pantaléon (Archdeacon of Liège who later became Pope Urban IV and Robert de Thorete, Bishop of Liège. At that time bishops could order feasts in their dioceses, so in 1246 Bishop Robert convened a synod and ordered a celebration of Corpus Christi to be held each year thereafter in the diocese of Liège
Doubting the Real Presence of Christ
Twenty Years later, in 1263, a German priest, Peter of Prague, stopped at Bolsena while on a pilgrimage to Rome. He is described as being a pious priest, but one who found it difficult to believe that Christ was actually present in the consecrated Host. While celebrating Holy Mass above the tomb of St. Christina he had barely spoken the words of Consecration when blood started to seep from the consecrated Host and trickle over his hands onto the altar and the corporal. The priest was shocked and confused. At first he attempted to hide the blood, but then he interrupted the Mass and asked to be taken to the neighboring city of Orvieto, the city where Pope Ur ban IV was then residing.
 |
| © Real Presence Association uploaded by Speramus-We Hope w permisssion |
The Pope listened to the priest's account and absolved him. He then sent emissaries for an immediate investigation. When all the facts were ascertained, he ordered the Bishop of the diocese to bring to Orvieto the Host and the linen cloth bearing the stains of blood. With archbishops, cardinals and other Church dignitaries in attendance, the Pope met the procession and, amid great pomp, had the relics placed in the cathedral. The linen corporal bearing the spots of blood is still reverently enshrined and exhibited in the Cathedral of Orvieto.
It is said that Pope Urban IV was prompted by this miracle to commission St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the Proper for a Mass and an Office honoring the Holy Eucharist as the Body of Christ. One year after the miracle, in August of 1264, Pope Urban IV introduced the saint's composition, and by means of a papal bull instituted the feast of Corpus Christi when he issued the papal bull Transiturus in which the feast of Corpus Christi, i.e. the feast of Body of Christ was declared a feast throughout the entire Latin Rite. It is said to be the very first papally sanctioned universal feast in the history of the Latin Rite. The feast is celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.
 |
| © Real Presence Association uploaded by Speramus-We Hope w permisssion |
Juliana was canonized in 1869 by Pius IX. In August of 1964, on the 700th anniversary of the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi, Pope Paul VI celebrated Holy Mass at the altar where the holy corporal is kept in its golden shrine in the Cathedral of Orvieto. Pope John Paul II, mentioned St. Juliana in a document on the 750th anniversary of the Feast of Corpus Christi. Her feast day is April 7.
After visiting the Cathedral of Orvieto, many pilgrims journey to St. Christina's Church in Bolsena to see for themselves the place where the miracle occurred. From the north aisle of the church one can enter the Chapel of the Miracle, where the stains on the paved floor are said to have been made by the blood from the miraculous Host. The altar of the miracle, which is surmounted by a 9th- century canopy, is now situated in the grotto of St. Christina.
 |
| © Real Presence Association uploaded by Speramus-We Hope w permisssion |
How many to this day continue to doubt the real presence of Christ denying the constant teachings of the church from the Council of Trent to the Second Vatican Council and the New Catechism of the Catholic Church?
The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, In such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ.
(Catechism of the Catholic Church from the second Vatican Council promulgated by Pope John Paul II, 1377, cf. Council of Trent: DS1641.)
For More Information:
0 comments:
Post a Comment