Celebration of Corpus Christi

The annual Corpus Christi Procession will take place this Sunday, June 11, after the 11:30am Holy Mass from the Cathedral of Saints Patrick & Felim in County Cavan.

Following the distribution of Holy Communion, a monstrance is prepared and placed on the altar. The Prayer after Communion is offered, the Blessed Sacrament is incensed, and the procession then begins.

Liam de Paor of the Eucharistic Adoration Organising Committee outlined how the feast will be celebrated in Cavan.

“Father Peter Okpetu will carry the monstrance under a canopy, which protects the Blessed Sacrament during the procession.

“This creates a scared space that is reserved for the priest carrying the monstrance,” he detailed.

The canopy in Cavan will be carried by four members of the Knights of Columbanus. Children who have received Holy Communion or Confirmation from the eight local national schools will attend along with their parents, siblings, relatives and teachers. Others attending will include altar servers, readers of the liturgy, Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist and parishioners attending the 11:30am Holy mass. During the procession, appropriate hymns will be sung, and the Holy Rosary will be recited.

The procession will proceed briefly through the town and return to the cathedral for Benediction and a blessing. Those attending will proceed down Church Street, Main Street, Bridge Street, Abbey Street, and back to the cathedral via Farnham Road. During the procession, appropriate hymns will be sung, and the Holy Rosary will be recited.

Corpus Christi, Latin for Body of Christ, is a feast first proposed by St Thomas Aquinas (Doctor of the Church to Pope Urban IV) to create a feast focused solely on the Holy Eucharist, emphasising the joy of the Eucharist being the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.

It is a celebration of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. It parallels the celebration on Holy Thursday in commemoration of the institution of this sacrament. When the Eucharist is carried through the streets in solemn procession, the Christian people give public witness of their faith and devotion toward the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Parish organisations represented during the feast in Cavan will include the Legion of Mary, Knights of Columbanus, Society of St Vincent de Paul, Eucharistic Adoration members and bible study groups, among others.