Corpus Christi

The procession begins!

In 1246, in the city of Liege, Belgium, on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday in 1246 the Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated for the first time.

Corpus Christi is a public exhibition of faith when the consecrated host, in a monstrance or ostensorium, is held high and paraded through the streets in procession.

It was the lifelong dream of St. Juliana  who was born in 1193 at Retines near Liège. She was orphaned at an early age and she was educated at and eventually joined the Mont Cornillon Abbey.

As a young girl, St. Juliana, always had a special love for the Blessed Sacrament, and longed for a special feast in its honour. She shared her hope with  the Bishop of Liège, Robert de Thorete,with Hugh, the Cardinal Legate of the Netherlands, and with the  Archdeacon of Liège, Jacques Pantaléon who became Bishop of Verdun, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and eventually Pope Urban IV. Bishop Robert was favourably impressed, and ordered the celebration to be held in the following year.

Mass at the savannah

The feast was celebrated for the first time by the canons of St. Martin at Liège in 1246. Pope Urban IV, always an admirer of the feast, published the Bull "Transiturus" (8 September, 1264), in which, after having extolled the love of Our Saviour as expressed in the Holy Eucharist, he ordered that the annual celebration to extend to the entire world. He also granted many indulgences to the faithful for the attendance at Mass and at the Office.

This year, because of the ongoing restoration works at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, after holy mass at 8.30 am at the Grand Stand in the Queen’s Park Savannah, our local procession will begin. It will end outside our closed cathedral.

There will be three benediction stops along the way—outside the Rosary Church on Henry Street; outside the Sacred Heart Church on Richmond Street and finally outside the main entrance to the cathedral. We hope to see you all there!