Thursday, June 10, 2004

Corpus Christi

Here in Rome we get to celebrate Corpus Christi twice - in the Vatican it is celebrated today, whilst in the Italian State the feast is deferred until next Sunday.
The liturgical highlight is the annual Corpus Christi Mass in the presence of the Holy Father at S.Giovanni in Laterano, followed by procession with the Blessed Sacrament to S.Maria Maggiore, where the evening is concluded with the Pope giving Benediction and the singing of the Salve Regina.
The procession consists of hundreds of clergy, seminarians, religious, members of confraternities and thousands of lay faithful. On the Vatican website, one gets an idea of the sheer scale of the occasion by looking at previous years' celebrations:
2003
2002
2001


In Venezuela, however, they take a different approach - the Corriere della Sera informs us that the
symbolism here is the defeat of the evil devils by the Blessed Sacrament.

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