Corpus Christi

About Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi, meaning the Body of Christ, is a Catholic feast celebrating the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. It falls on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, a movable date roughly sixty days after Easter, though some countries transfer it to the following Sunday. Established in the thirteenth century, it remains a public holiday in parts of Catholic Europe and Latin America.

The hallmark of Corpus Christi is the outdoor procession, in which a consecrated host is carried through the streets in a golden monstrance beneath a canopy. In Spain, Italy and Portugal towns lay elaborate carpets of coloured flower petals, sawdust and salt along the route. Altars are built at street corners, church bells ring and children who have made First Communion often join in white attire.