TODAY MARKS THE FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI
According to the traditional Latin calendar, today, the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, marks the feast of Corpus Christi, also called Corpus Domini. It was on a Thursday, Holy Thursday, that the sacrament of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, was instituted, thus Corpus Christi was always marked on a Thursday.
In 2017, in what was seen as an unprecedented change, Pope Francis announced that the traditional Roman Corpus Christi procession that has taken place for decades on a Thursday would henceforth be celebrated on Sunday. He also celebrated it several times outside of Rome but this year the Pope will return, on Sunday, June 2, to the previous tradition of Mass at St. John Later and a procession to St. Mary Major
This annual celebration here in Rome traditionally starts with Mass at 7 p.m. in the square outside the Pope's cathedral church of St. John Lateran, a procession with the Blessed Sacrament down Via Merulana to St. Mary Major Basilica and a blessing of the crowd gathered at this Marian basilica. Until 2017, they had always taken place on a Thursday.
In Vatican City...
This feast day has a wonderful history and I will be looking into that further in coming days.
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