Corpus Christi 60 days after Easter

This feast celebrates the real presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist, that is to say under the species (sensible appearances) of the bread and wine given during the Eucharistic sacrifice (mass).

The origins of the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ date back to the 13th century. The raising of the host during Mass already demonstrated the desire to contemplate the Blessed Sacrament. But the decisive impetus for a particular celebration was given by Saint Julienne de Cornillon and Blessed Eve of Liège. This celebration was now established on September 8, 1264 by Pope Urban IV, former archdeacon of Liège.

The history of the solemnity falls in the wake of the theological debate concerned by the polemic of Berenger of Tours, who denied the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In the bull Transiturus which established Corpus Christi, Pope Urban IV wrote:

“It is right, to confound the madness of certain heretics, that we recall the Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.”

The developments in sacramental theology and its development in the schools of the 12th and 13th centuries were decisive. The determining factor which enabled the solemnity of Corpus Christi was above all the evolution of popular religiosity, thanks to the development of preaching. This awakening is accompanied by a desire to contemplate the consecrated host during mass: it is in Paris, around 1200, that the existence of this rite of "elevation", at the time of consecration, is attested for the first time.

It is largely to Julienne de Cornillon that we owe Corpus Christi: from 1209, she had mystical visions. A vision returned several times, in which she said she saw an indented moon, that is to say radiant but incomplete, a black band dividing it into two equal parts. From this period, she worked for the establishment of a solemn feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. She was helped in this by Blessed Eve of Liège, a recluse.

In 1222, Julienne was elected prioress of Mont-Cornillon and continued the efforts to establish Corpus Christi, seeking advice from several personalities of the time, such as Jean de Lausanne, canon of Saint Martin, Jacques Pantaléon, archdeacon of Liège and future Pope Urban IV, Guy, bishop of Cambrai, and also Dominican theologians, including Hugues de Saint-Cher.

The celebration was requested for the first time by the prince-bishop Robert de Thourotte. Having fallen ill at Fosses, fearing not having time to confirm the feast to his principality, he recommended the institution of the feast to the clergy who surrounded him and had the office presented in his presence, at Fosses itself. He died there on October 16, 1246 without being able to hold a general synod and publish his mandate. However, from 1246, Corpus Christi was designated in the diocese of Liège at the Saint-Martin basilica before being established in 1252 by the papal legate Hugues de Saint-Cher and confirmed in 1254 by Pierre Caputius, another cardinal- legate of the Holy See.

The bourgeoisie of Liège were opposed to the celebration because it meant an extra day of fasting and certain religious people considered that such a celebration did not deserve such a budget. As opposition to the festival grew stronger after 1246, Julienne had to leave her convent and moved from monastery to monastery. She found refuge in several Cistercian abbeys. She died on April 5, 1258 in Fosses-la-Ville, between Sambre and Meuse, and was buried in the Cistercian abbey of Villers-La-Ville.