Corpus Christi Procession Etiquette

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The good news is that my parish had its 3rd Corpus Christi Procession in as many years. The not-so-good news is that folks still don’t seem to get some of the procedures or etiquette, like kneeling on two knees. But here’s one that confused me and I’d like some (name removed by moderator)ut. I had always been told that the canopy carried over the priest with the Blessed Sacrament in the Monstrance was to honor the Real Presence and that the laity in general shouldn’t be under the canopy. That was all fine for the procession but when we got back to th church the pole bearers held the canopy over the entry door (sort of like a London Bridge all-built-up or a Virgina Reel) for everyone to pass under. I waited until the canopy was taken down but was the only one to do so. Am I mis-remembering the guidance here? Should the canopy be held up over the laity too? I don’t want to look “holier-than-thou” but just to be appropriately respectful.
 
Be grateful you had that much. Last weekend (Corpus Christi), I attended two local parishes, each in a different diocese, and neither did anything apart from the usual Sunday Mass routine. No procession, adoration, benediction, or anything.
 
hopefull said:
Should the canopy be held up over the laity too? I don’t want to look “holier-than-thou” but just to be appropriately respectful.
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You are correct, that was inappropriate for the faithful to walk under the baldachin (canopy).
 
I don’t know the answer to your question but you’re very blessed to have a procession on Corpus Christi. what you say makes sense!

The last post called the canopy a baldachin. we had a priest that called it an umbrillino but the next priest corrected us to say it was just a canopy. has anyone heard this word before?

we would have had a procession the last two years but the pastors switched on that day two years ago and this year, we got a new music director. it just didn’t work to plan it with the staff changing.

i LOVE the children dropping rose petals before the Lord in the link with photos! 👍 how very precious! we try to plan that when we’ve had processions.
 
Umbrelino is more of an umbrella, carried by 1 person.

My guess is the baldachin is the 4 person one.

Not too sure though…
 
I think the baldachino is a permanent canopy over the altar - See the main altar at St Peters for instance.
 
Various words have been used for the various canopies, and often these have been used interchangeably. Most of these words come from the Latin or, in some cases, from Italian.

Much depends on where one lives. Where I come from, in order to avoid confusion, the permanent canopy over the altar is the baldacchino.
http://www.sspxafrica.com/Images/2001_November/MarchAlt.jpg

That which is carried over the Blessed Sacrament in procession is simply called a canopy.
http://www.relais.it/immagini/infiorate.jpg

The small one that is used to carry the Sacrament through tight places, or between the altar and the canopy (often waiting outside the church) is the ombrellino.
http://www.communigate.co.uk/oxford/rcchurch/phpANiduH

However, the small one can also be called an umbella.

Checking the great liturgists of the pre-Vatican II era, Fortescue refers to the second picture as a canopy, but says that it may also be called a baldachinum or umbraculum, from which the Italianized versions baldacchino and ombrellino derive. In English these may be rendered baldachin and *little umbrella. *The smaller canopy in the third picture is called umbella by the Fortescue. O’Connell uses the words ombrellino and *umbella *interchangeably.

In the current era, Elliott uses the word baldachin in some cases for the canopy, but does not specify its size.

So the bottom line is that the words are used somewhat interchangeably, largely because except for canopy, none of the words is an English language term.
 
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