How does your church celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi?

  • Thread starter Thread starter stbruno
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

stbruno

Guest
Our church traditionally builds several small outdoor altars and we have a procession outside immediately following mass. Is your church doing any thing special for the Body and Blood Feast day?
 
That would be so lovely. Sigh. Liberal pastor. You are so lucky. Do you celebrate it on Thursday, too?
 
My parish was going to have a procession through the neighbourhood last year, but it rained.😦 Hopefully, the weather will be better this year, and the procession will happen.
 
We have a drought here, so rain is unlikely. I am the MC, and we have a police escort and two altar stations set up (last year we had the full four). We essentially are going around the block, but it is a roundabout route.
 
For the first time in many years our church will be having a procession, several blocks long.

We’re trying to figure out what to do with the music.

I think what we’ll do is have a boombox playing Eucharistic hymns while marching, and we’ll probably stop a dozen times or so, in front of parisioners houses, and then we’ll sing, a capella, the usual suspects.

We do have two electronic organs in the church basement…maybe we can place one on a flatbed with wheels, and we could get the 1st communicants to pull ropes that would be attached to the flatbed down the street while I’m playing. That would be cool!
 
The Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph, and the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas are having a procession (about 0.7 miles) from one church to another (in Kansas City, Missouri). This is the third annual Diocesan procession now for the diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph, and the second one for Kansas City in more than 50 years (last year’s was in Saint Joseph…more of you from KC need to come up for it when it is up here…if it is ever up here again).
 
stbruno said:
Our church traditionally builds several small outdoor altars and we have a procession outside immediately following mass. Is your church doing any thing special for the Body and Blood Feast day?
Click to expand...
The same, with the usual flowers, etc, etc. I must say some of the altars look superb. Plus Corpus Christi we get to ring the church bells.👍
 
We have a procession from our church to a contemplative convent (Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters, or Pink Sisters) within the parish. The route is close to two miles long. We have one altar just outside the parish church (for those who can’t make the hike), two at parishioners’ homes along the way, and the final altar at the front door of the contemplative convent. People process on the sidewalks of a main street that runs between the church and the convent.

As far as music goes, we have a unique system of portable loudspeakers that are mounted inside of processional crosses. A cart is pulled that contains a tape recording of “Pange Lingua”, and a small transmitter broadcasts the sound to the processional loudspeakers so people on both sides of the street can hear and follow along (and participate in) the singing. At each altar, a childrens’ choir sings a hymn as well.

First Communicants are invited to wear their dresses and suits and scatter flower petals along the way. There is also an honor guard of young people along the way, servers, and incense. Lots of incense.

We began this procession during the Jubilee Year in 2000 and have kept it up ever since. Hasn’t been rained out, although one year we had about three inches of rain that stopped about half an hour before the procession was to start…👍
 
The most awesome Corpus Christi procession I was in was at the cathedral in Puebla, Mexico. In Mexico, Corpus Christi is celebrated on a Thursday. The procession was contained inside the courtyard of the magnificent, 16th Century cathedral, and consisted of four stations. Each one was elaborately decorated by various diocesan groups and several minutes of adoration and benediction was held at each one. The Eucharist was carried in a massive monstrance under a canopy supported by four bearers, led by the Archbishop.

Throughout the whole procession, the two bell wheels inside the church were rung continuously and were easily audible outside. These are wooden wheels about 4 feet in diameter, mounted to the wall by a central hub. Over twenty iron bells of different sizes are fastened to the rim, producing a unique sound when the wheel is spun, something like continuously breaking glass. These wheels are common in Mexican churches but rare in America.
 
Our Diocese had one last year, and the year before, but I haven’t seen any advertising to know if there will be one this year.
 
Maybe with a comment by a parishioner saying…thats today? (after I ask about it.)

Out here in California, it is a desert sometimes.

Enjoy your celebrations, it is nice to see other parishes doing things like this.

God Bless
Scylla
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
The most awesome Corpus Christi procession I was in was at the cathedral in Puebla, Mexico. In Mexico, Corpus Christi is celebrated on a Thursday. The procession was contained inside the courtyard of the magnificent, 16th Century cathedral, and consisted of four stations. Each one was elaborately decorated by various diocesan groups and several minutes of adoration and benediction was held at each one. The Eucharist was carried in a massive monstrance under a canopy supported by four bearers, led by the Archbishop.

Throughout the whole procession, the two bell wheels inside the church were rung continuously and were easily audible outside. These are wooden wheels about 4 feet in diameter, mounted to the wall by a central hub. Over twenty iron bells of different sizes are fastened to the rim, producing a unique sound when the wheel is spun, something like continuously breaking glass. These wheels are common in Mexican churches but rare in America.
Click to expand...
I wish I could be there. That is wonderful. God bless our brothers and sisters in Mexico.🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top