Where does the feast of Corpus Christi (Feast of the Body of Christ) come from?

Feast of Corpus Christi by Carl Emil Doepler the Elder - Public Domain

Where does the feast of Corpus Christi (Feast of the Body of Christ) come from? The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that:-

"This feast is celebrated in the Latin Church on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday to solemnly commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist.

Of Maundy Thursday, which commemorates this great event, mention is made as Natalis Calicis (Birth of the Chalice) in the Calendar of Polemius (448) for the 24th of March, the 25th of March being in some places considered as the day of the death of Christ. This day, however, was in Holy Week, a season of sadness, during which the minds of the faithful are expected to be occupied with thoughts of the Lord's Passion. Moreover, so many other functions took place on this day that the principal event was almost lost sight of. This is mentioned as the chief reason for the introduction of the new feast, in the Bull "Transiturus."
The instrument in the hand of Divine Providence was St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon, in Belgium. She was born in 1193 at Retines near Liège. Orphaned at an early age, she was educated by the Augustinian nuns of Mont Cornillon. Here she in time made her religious profession and later became superioress. Intrigues of various kinds several times drove her from her convent. She died 5 April, 1258, at the House of the Cistercian nuns at Fosses, and was buried at Villiers.

Juliana, from her early youth, had a great 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. She made known her ideas to Robert de Thorete, then Bishop of Liège, to the learned Dominican Hugh, later cardinal legate in the Netherlands, and to Jacques Pantaléon, at that time Archdeacon of Liège, afterwards Bishop of Verdun, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and finally Pope Urban IV. Bishop Robert was favourably impressed, and, since bishops as yet had the right of ordering feasts for their dioceses, he called a synod in 1246 and ordered the celebration to be held in the following year, also, that a monk named John should write the Office for the occasion. The decree is preserved in Binterim (Denkwürdigkeiten, V, 1, 276), together with parts of the Office.

Bishop Robert did not live to see the execution of his order, for he died 16 October, 1246; but the feast was celebrated for the first time by the canons of St. Martin at Liège. Jacques Pantaléon became pope 29 August, 1261. The recluse Eve, with whom Juliana had spent some time, and who was also a fervent adorer of the Holy Eucharist, now urged Henry of Guelders, Bishop of Liège, to request the pope to extend the celebration to the entire world. 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 the annual celebration of Corpus Christi in the Thursday next after Trinity Sunday, at the same time granting many indulgences to the faithful for the attendance at Mass and at the Office. This Office, composed at the request of the pope by the Angelic Doctor St. Thomas Aquinas, is one of the most beautiful in the Roman Breviary and has been admired even by Protestants.

The death of Pope Urban IV (2 October, 1264), shortly after the publication of the decree, somewhat impeded the spread of the festival. Clement V again took the matter in hand and, at the General Council of Vienne (1311), once more ordered the adoption of the feast. He published a new decree which embodied that of Urban IV. John XXII, successor of Clement V, urged its observance.
Neither decree speaks of the theophoric procession as a feature of the celebration. This procession, already held in some places, was endowed with indulgences by Popes Martin V and Eugene IV.
The feast had been accepted in 1306 at Cologne; Worms adopted it in 1315; Strasburg in 1316. In England it was introduced from Belgium between 1320 and 1325. In the United States and some other countries the solemnity is held on the Sunday after Trinity.

In the Greek Church the feast of Corpus Christi is known in the calendars of the Syrians, Armenians, Copts, Melchites, and the Ruthenians of Galicia, Calabria, and Sicily."

Old Rite Mass of Corpus Christi at St. Gregory's, Cheltenham at 7pm on Thursday 26th May

 

 

 

 

 There will be an additional Low Mass at St. Gregory's, Cheltenham (full address:10 St James Square, GL50 3PR Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) on Thursday 26th May.

 

 

 

Vatican Press Office Communique on Articles Relating to the Third Secret of Fatima

Fr. Frederico Lombardi - Source Wikicommons

 
The Vatican Press Office have released remarks, attributed to Pope Emeritus Benedict, on the latest articles relating to the Third Secret of Fatima:-

"Vatican City, 21 May 2016 – Several articles have appeared recently, including declarations attributed to Professor Ingo Dollinger according to which Cardinal Ratzinger, after the publication of the Third Secret of Fatima (which took place in June 2000), had confided to him that the publication was not complete.

In this regard, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI declares “never to have spoken with Professor Dollinger about Fatima”, clearly affirming that the remarks attributed to Professor Dollinger on the matter “are pure inventions, absolutely untrue”, and he confirms decisively that “the publication of the Third Secret of Fatima is complete.”

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/05/21/160521b.html

Fatima – A New Miracle of the Sun? Plus “New” Revelations of the Third Secret of Fatima

 

 The Portuguese Media is Reporting on the
 "New Miracle of the Sun" in Fatima

The blog “One Peter Five” has reported that:- “Not long after the June 2000 publication of the Third Secret of Fatima by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told Fr. Dollinger during an in-person conversation that there is still a part of the Third Secret that they have not published!

For a more in-depth analysis of this alleged revelation see:- http://www.onepeterfive.com/cardinal-ratzinger-not-published-whole-third-secret-fatima/.

Also, the Eponymous Flower blog reports that:-

New sun miracle in Fatima?

“The Portuguese media is reporting that believers have experienced a new sun miracle in Fatima last May 4.  The event had taken place in Vila Nova de Ourem shortly after 8am. According to media reports, more than a hundred people were witnesses of the phenomenon.

On May 5, the newspaper Correio Da Manhã reports:

"More than a hundred faithful experienced yesterday a phenomenon in Ourem, which they describe as a new, sun miracle.'" The statue of Our Lady of Fatima had been venerated throughout the night in the church. For several months she pilgrimaged through the diocese of Fatima from place to place. In the morning she was taken to the next place,  when the phenomenon occurred. It took more than a quarter of an hour, exactly the time it took the procession to move the statue from Ourém towards Caxarias and then disappeared from the sight of the faithful. "Those present reported an unusually bright light shining like a beam of light which was directed to them, with the light source turning at high speed."

The pastor of  Ourém, Don Armindo Janeiro, had previously celebrated a Holy Mass. For 50 years the statue had not visited the parish. "It was spectacular." "It was an extraordinary situation."

More than one hundred believers - all locals - acknowledge that they have experienced an extraordinary solar phenomena during the translation of the statue, several of whom are quoted by the media, said the priest, who  hasn't seen "anything unusual". He told Correio Da Manhã : "Such are the mornings in Ourem".

The phenomenon occurred a week before the international pilgrimage for the anniversary of the apparition of May 13, 1917.

For more details see:- http://eponymousflower.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/pope-francis-to-portuguese-pray-rosary.html.

Reported Miracle at Lourdes

There has been a reported miracle in Lourdes. The blog Eponymous Flower writes:-

"The girl was born prematurely on December 25 of 2009. To save her, her doctors administered the drugs that damaged her hearing organs. In Gaslini Hospital of Genoa their own prostheses were used as hearing devices had no effect on her. With the help of speech therapy she learned in the course of time to read lips and speak with difficulty. Her story was told Giuseppe Secondi, the Unitalsi conductor of Milan West, who led the pilgrimage with the girl. Unitalsi is an ecclesial service, the Ambulance service operates at  Lourdes and other international as well as Italian sanctuaries.

As a gift to her family, the mother decided to make a thanksgiving pilgrimage to Our Lady at Lourdes with the children, which included her own mother.

Our Lady of Loudes

The pilgrimage took place in the usual way. Prayer, Holy Mass, dipping into the wells. On the evening of May 11, "we returned after the conclusion of the Eucharistic procession to the hotel," said the mother. "I was playing a bit with the kids, then I wanted to go to the meeting of the pilgrims who are first time attendees on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. When I told my daughter that I would go away but be inevitably long, she suddenly said in a clear voice, as she had never spoken before, that I should stay."

During the meeting pilgrim pilgrimage conductor Secondi was called. He was told that the girl had taken her hearing prosthesis out and told the mother that she no longer need it, because she could now hear.

"We stood in disbelief in front of her. From an adjoining room we called her several times with a soft voice and have found that she could really hear us.  Above all, she now speaks very clearly, very different than before."

"I thank you, dear Mother, for what you have done to me"

The next morning Secondi wanted to apply to the Bureau des Constatations Medicales to report the case. Previously, he had accompanied the girl to the grotto. While they were there, he said to the child: "Let's go to my Madonna, mine has a crown on her head."  So we went to the great Lady of Lourdes, crowned statue of Our Lady. As we stood in front of her, the girl said to my astonishment: "I thank you, dear Mother, for what you have done to me."

Then we went to the Bureau des Constatations Medicales. In the waiting room there was a stylized representation of Marie. The girl said: "this is ugly."  When we came into the doctor's room, a picture of the Blessed Mother crowned was hung: "This is the Madonna," she said with satisfaction.

The doctors examined her in detail, then the mother. They performed listening tests. Investigations have since continued in Italy and are still underway. Doctors in Genoa have presented to their astonishment, a cure of the hearing organs. There was also a change in character that took place. The previously very closed, introverted, girl has now become wholly different.

In Lourdes one proceeds with caution and accurate investigations are necessary before a miracle is recognized. The surveys will therefore take some time to complete. The girl and the family are certainly happy and grateful.

See:- http://eponymousflower.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/lourdes-girl-born-deaf-can-now-hear.htm

More Rosary Quotes - St. Louis de Montfort

St. Louis de Montfort

 
“If you say the Rosary faithfully until death, I do assure you that, in spite of the gravity of your sins you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory. Even if you are on the brink of damnation, even if you have one foot in hell, even if you have sold your soul to the devil as sorcerers do who practice black magic, and even if you are....as obstinate as a devil, sooner or later you will be converted and will amend your life and will save your soul, if– and mark well what I say– if you say the Holy Rosary devoutly every day until death for the purpose of knowing the truth and obtaining contrition and pardon for your sins.”

 – St. Louis De Montfort

Famous Rosary Quotes - Sr. Lucia of Fatima

     Lucia dos Santos with Jacinta Marto in 1917 Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/

“The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families…that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary.”

-Sister Lucia dos Santos, Fatima seer

The True Story of the Amazing Miracle of the Sun at Fatima (1917)

 The following is taken from http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/approved/appariti/fatima.html:-


The Miracle of the Sun
"At the same time the vast crowd saw a true miracle. The black clouds parted, and the sun became visible, looking like a dull grey disc that could be looked at directly quite easily. In O Seculo Avelino de Almeida would adopt a very different tone from his earlier satirical article on Fatima:

"...one could see the immense multitude turn towards the sun, which appeared free from clouds and at its zenith. It looked like a plaque of dull silver and it was possible to look at it without the least discomfort. It might have been an eclipse which was taking place. But at that moment a great shout went up and one could hear the spectators nearest at hand shouting: "A miracle! A miracle!" Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was Biblical as they stood bareheaded, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws - the sun "danced" according to the typical expression of the people. ...

"People then began to ask each other what they had seen. The great majority admitted to having seen the trembling and dancing of the sun; others affirmed that they saw the face of the Blessed Virgin; others, again, swore that the sun whirled on itself like a giant Catherine wheel and that it lowered itself to the earth as if to burn it with its rays. Some said they saw it change colours successively. ..."

Other witnesses too, such as Maria Carreira, testified to the terrifying nature of the solar miracle: "It turned everything different colours, yellow, blue, white, and it shook and trembled; it seemed like a wheel of fire which was going to fall on the people. They cried out: 'We shall all be killed, we shall all be killed!' ... At last the sun stopped moving and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We were still alive and the miracle which the children had foretold had taken place."

Other people witnessed the solar miracle from a distance thus ruling out the possibility of any type of collective hallucination. A final intriguing, and important, point was that the heat of the sun, as it descended on the people, also had the effect of drying their clothes and the ground, so that they went from being completely soaked to being dry in about ten minutes."

www.holyart.co.uk

I've been asked to publicize the following initiative, please see below:-

Cheltenham Young Catholic Adults - May Events

Tuesday 19th May 2016 at 8pm. Rosary and wine evening to be held on the ground floor of the Old Priory at:- St. Gregory's Church,10 St James Square, GL50 3PR.

Saturday  28th May 2016 from 2pm, barbecue. For more details contact:- youngcatholicadult@googlemail.com.

Some Good News! New Oratory to Open in Bournemouth

It seems as though England is going to have yet another Oratory, this time in Bournemouth, Fr. Ray Blake writes:-

"From the parish website - A new Oratory in-formation is being inaugurated at Sacred Heart Church in Bournemouth on the 8th of September of this year (2016).Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth has invited Fr Dominic Jacob CO (co-founder of the Oxford Oratory) and Fr Peter Edwards and Fr David Hutton, generously released by the Archbishop of Southwark for this project, to begin an Oratorian Community of St Philip Neri as part of a major evangelisation drive for the diocese.

Fr Peter, Fr Dominic and Fr David will begin their ministry on the feast of Our Lady’s Birthday, at the church which is situated in the heart of Bournemouth, surrounded by students living in university accommodation, many international language schools, diverse ethnic communities, and the homelessness, beside long-standing residents, all within an active town center known its hospitality industry, business and commerce."

For more details see:- http://marymagdalen.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/a-new-oratory-in-bournemouth.html

Surprising Celebrity Supporters of the Old Latin Mass – Agatha Christie

Source: Wikicommons

“Agatha Christie (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English crime novelist, short story writer and playwright. The Guinness Book of World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies, and her estate claims that her works come third in the rankings of the world's most-widely published books,^[1] behind only Shakespeare's works and the Bible.^{" (}Source: Wikipedia)

Surprisingly, even though not a Catholic, Christie signed a petition asking Pope Paul VI to allow the Old Latin Mass (sometimes referred to as the Tridentine Mass), to be celebrated in England and Wales, after the introduction of the Novus Ordo Missae. As Wikipedia notes:-

“Following the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI to replace the former rite in 1969-70, a petition was sent to the Pope asking that the Tridentine rite (i.e. Old Rite Latin Mass)  be permitted to continue for those who wished in England and Wales. The petition noted the exceptional artistic and cultural heritage of the Tridentine liturgy, and was signed by many prominent non-Catholic figures in British society, including Agatha Christie.

The indult acquired its nickname by virtue of a story told about the Pope's acceptance of the petition: the story is that Pope Paul read through the letter in silence then suddenly exclaimed, "Ah, Agatha Christie!" and then signed it. Ever since it has been known, informally, as "the Agatha Christie indult".^{[2]  “(}Source: Wikipedia)

Bill Murray and Jimmy Fallon Love the Old Latin Mass

  

David Shankbone, Flickr / Jim, the Photographer, Flickr / Viva Vivanista, Flickr

Great article on h/t to https://churchpop.com:-

The UK news media outlet The Guardian recently published a fascinating interview with actor Bill Murray. Towards the end of it, the subject turns to Murray’s Catholic faith:

His parents were Irish Catholics; one of his sisters is a nun. This conspicuous religion adds to his broad church appeal. You don’t need to ask if his faith is important to him. He talks about how 19th-century candidates risk not getting canonised because the church is keen to push ahead with the likes of John Paul II and Mother Teresa. “I think they’re just trying to get current and hot,” he smiles.

One new saint he does approve of is Pope John XXIII (who died in 1963). “I’ll buy that one, he’s my guy; an extraordinary joyous Florentine who changed the order.”

But then Murray laments the loss of the old Latin mass:

I’m not sure all those changes were right. I tend to disagree with what they call the new mass. I think we lost something by losing the Latin. Now if you go to a Catholic mass even just in Harlem it can be in Spanish, it can be in Ethiopian, it can be in any number of languages. The shape of it, the pictures, are the same but the words aren’t the same.”

Isn’t it good for people to understand it? “I guess,” he says, shaking his head. “But there’s a vibration to those words. If you’ve been in the business long enough you know what they mean anyway. And I really miss the music – the power of it, y’know? Yikes! Sacred music has an affect on your brain.” Instead, he says, we get “folk songs … top 40 stuff … oh, brother….”

In 2012, late night comic Jimmy Fallon, also raised Catholic, expressed a similar sentiment in an interview with NPR. After talking about how, growing up, he went to Catholic school, served as an altar boy, loved the old Latin mass, and wanted to become a priest, the interviewer asks him whether he still goes to mass. Here’s his answer:

Mr. FALLON: I don’t go to – I tried to go back. When I was out in L.A. and I was kind of struggling for a bit. I went to church for a while, but it’s kind of, it’s gotten gigantic now for me. It’s like too… There’s a band. There’s a band there now, and you got to, you have to hold hands with people through the whole Mass now, and I don’t like doing that. You know, I mean, it used to be the shaking hands piece was the only time you touched each other.

GROSS: Mm-hmm.

Mr. FALLON: Now, I’m holding hands – now I’m lifting people. Like Simba.

(Laughter)

Mr. FALLON: I’m holding them (Singing) ha nah hey nah ho. (Speaking) I’m doing too much. I don’t want – there’s Frisbees being thrown, there’s beach balls going around, people waving lighters, and I go, ‘This is too much for me.’ I want the old way. I want to hang out with the, you know, with the nuns, you know, that was my favorite type of Mass, and the grotto, and just like straight up, just Mass Mass.

The Second Vatican Council taught clearly on the central importance of the liturgy for the Christian life: “the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows.” (SC 10)

See https://churchpop.com/2014/11/22/bill-murray-jimmy-fallon-miss-old-latin-mass/

Feast of St. Pope Pius V (+1572). Smasher of the Enemies of the Church

H/t to Fr Z at http://wdtprs.com

 

Today is the ninth day before Pentecost.  Hence, today is the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord.  Notice that today is THURSDAY.

However, in the traditional Roman calendar, used with the 1962 Missale Romanum, today is the feast of St. Pope Pius V (+1572).

I made a PODCAzT about him some years ago, and about his famous document Quo primum.
084 09-04-30 St. Pius V and Quo primum.

A friend sent me a list of some of the accomplishments of St. Pius, who reigned for only a bit more than 6 years, but in tumultuous times.

1) began his pontificate by giving large alms to the poor (he did not just talked about them)
2) as Pope, continued the life of penance and virtue he had lived as a mendicant friar
3) made two meditations during the day ON BEENDED KNEES in the presence of the Bl. Sacrament
4) visited hospitals and sat by the bedside of the sick
5) washed the feet of the  poor and embraced the lepers
6) always opposed Protestantism and the Turks 

7) excommunicated Elizabeth I 

8) instituted the Feast of the Holy Rosary
9) reformed the curia and the Church, leaving, after he died, “the memory of a rare virtue and an unfailing and inflexible integrity”

Let’s pause for a moment to drill into the collect for this saint, who I am sure doesn’t mind at all being bumped off the day by Our Lord’s feast.

Deus, qui, ad conterendos Ecclesiae tuae hostes et ad divinum cultum reparandum, beatum Pium Pontificem maximum eligere dignatus es: fac nos ipsius defendi praesidiis et ita tuis inhaerere obsequiis; ut, omnium hostium superatis insidiis, perpetua pace laetemur.

Contero is, “to grind, bruise, pound, to crumble, separate into small pieces”.  That word alone is a hint that this is a great prayer.  Obsequium, in the plural here, is a little tricky to get into English just right.  First, it has to do with God: it’s with tuis.  It has to do with how God is indulgent, toward us.  I want to say “cleave to your indulgences”, but that sounds like the use of the indulgences the Church grants from the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints.  So, we have to put it another way.

Slavishly Literal Attempt:

O God, who deigned to choose blessed Pius to be Pontifex Maximus in order to smash the enemies of your Church to bits and to renew the divine worship, cause us to be defended by his protections and to cleave with obedience to what you will in such way that, once the plots of all our enemies are overcome, we may rejoice in perpetual peace.

Fatima Five First Saturdays devotion

This Saturday, 7 May, is the first Saturday of May, and so may want to engage in the Fatima Five First Saturdays devotion.

This devotion was revealed by Our Lady to the seers of Fatima in July 1917, and more fully explained to Sr Lucia in December 1925. The Blessed Virgin appeared with the Child Jesus and told Sr Lucia the details of the First Saturdays devotion, as follows, promising:-

"to assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to confession and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."

This is a wonderful promise and great grace, and so if you haven't already done the Fatima Five First Saturdays, please consider starting this month!

You can see more details about the devotion here:
www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/firstsat/firstsat.html

and also here, on the World Apostolate of Fatima England and Wales website:
www.worldfatima-englandwales.org.uk/first-saturdays.html

There are leaflets explaining what to do at the second link.

Quote of the Day - Pope St. Pius X

“The Rosary is the most beautiful and the most rich in graces of all prayers; it is the prayer that touches most the Heart of the Mother of God…and if you wish peace to reign in your homes, recite the family Rosary.”

-Pope Saint Pius X.

10 Blessings of the Rosary

1. Sinners are forgiven.
2. Souls that thirst are refreshed.
3. Those who are fettered have their bonds broken.
4. Those who weep find happiness
5. Those who are tempted find peace.
6. The poor find help.
7. Religious are reformed.
8. Those who are ignorant are instructed.
9. The living learn to overcome pride.
10. The dead (the Holy Souls) have their pains eased by suffrages.

H/t:- https://sanhi.wordpress.com