The Feast Of Corpus Christi.

Roman Text taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal, 1945 edition.

Illustrations, unless otherwise stated, from the Web-Site
of UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY,
which carries this Credit Statement:
"Illustrations taken from St. Andrew's Daily Missal, 1952 edition,
with the kind permission of St. Bonaventure Press".

Double of the First-Class 

with a Privileged Octave of the Second Order.

White Vestments.

(Indulgence of 400 days for those who attend Mass or Vespers.)

THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT.

The Solemn celebrations of this Feast is, in some places, observed on the following Sunday.

After the Dogma of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Ghost reminds us of the Dogma of the Incarnation of Our Lord, in celebrating with the Church the greatest of all Sacraments, summing up the whole Life of the Redeemer, giving infinite glory to God and applying  the fruits of the Redemption at all times to ourselves (Collect).

It was on the Cross that Our Lord redeemed us and the Holy Eucharist, instituted on the night before Our Lord's Passion, remains its Memorial (Collect). The Altar is the extension of Calvary ["The celebration of the Mass has the same value as the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross", Saint John Chrysostom.]; the Mass "shows the death of the Lord (Epistle).

Jesus is there in the state of a victim, for the words of the double consecration mean only that the bread is changed into the Body of Christ and the wine into His Blood. On account of this double action with different effects, which constitutes the Sacrifice of the Mass, we are entitled to speak of Our Lord's Presence under the appearance of bread as that of the Body of Christ, although, since He can die no more, the whole Christ is there contained; similarly, we may speak of the Presence under the appearance of wine as that of His Blood, although He is contained there whole and entire.

"The Eucharist in a Fruit Wreath "

by Jan Davidsz de Heem, 1648,

(from the Blog "Ars Orandi: The Art and Beauty 

of Traditional Catholicism")

http://arsorandi.blogspot.co.uk/

Through His Priests, Our Lord Himself, the principal Priest of the Mass, offers in an unbloody manner His Body and Blood which were really separated on the Cross, but on the Altar only in a representative or sacramental sense, the matter and words used and the effect produced being different in the two consecrations.

Besides, the Eucharist was instituted under the form of food (Alleluia), that we may be united with the Victim of Calvary, so that the Sacred Host becomes the "wheat" which feeds our Souls (Introit).

THE SEQUENCE FOR CORPUS CHRISTI.

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.

Holy Mass, Procession to Saint Mary Major and Eucharistic Blessing.

Basilica of Saint John Lateran, 23 June 2011.

Solennità del Santissimo Corpo e Sangue di Cristo.

Santa Messa, Processione a Santa Maria Maggiore e Benedizione Eucaristica.

Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, 23 Giugno 2011.

Sequentia:

Lauda Sion Salvatorem

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/Ox3xwJNMtrA

Moreover, Christ, as the Son of God, receives the eternal life of the Father; in the same way, Christians share in that eternal life by uniting themselves to Christ, through the Sacrament, which is the symbol of unity (Secret), and this possession of the Divine Life, already realised on Earth through the Eucharist, is the pledge and the beginning of that in which we shall fully rejoice in Heaven (Postcommunion). As the Council of Trent puts it: "That same Heavenly Bread that we eat now under the Sacred Veils, we shall feed upon in Heaven without Veil."

We should regard the Mass as the centre of all Eucharistic worship, seeing in Holy Communion the means instituted by Our Lord to enable us to share more fully in this Divine Sacrifice. In this way, our devotion to Our Lord's Body and Blood will effectively obtain for us the fruits of His Redemption (Collect).

English: Corpus Christi Procession. Oil on canvas by Carl Emil Doepler.

Deutsch: Carl Emil Doepler the Elder 

(1824 Warszawa or Schnepfental - 1905 Berlin): Fronleichnamsprozession.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Concerning the Procession, which regularly should follow the Mass, we remember how the Israelites revered the Ark of the Covenant, which was the Presence of God among them. When they carried on their victorious marches, the Ark went before, borne by the Levites in the midst of a cloud of incense, accompanied by the sound of musical instruments and of the songs and shouts of the multitude.

We Christians have a treasure far more precious, for, in the Eucharist, we possess God Himself. Let us feel a holy pride in forming His Escort and extolling His triumphs, while He is in our midst.

Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.