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Feast of Corpus Christi PDF Print E-mail

Summary of comments of this office by Dom Schuster, in his work L'année liturgique.

In the early Church, three Masses were celebrated on Holy Thursday: one for the reconciliation of penitents, one for the consecration of the holy oils, and the third in Cœna Domini in order to solemnize the institution of the most holy Eucharist. Later on, however, such splendor of worship diminished together with the cooling of fervor in the faithful; hence came the need for a special feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament, especially because of the heresies which arose against the truth of this mystery. The feast was instituted by Urban IV in 1264, and extended by Clement V to the entire Church.

The office of the most Blessed Sacrament is a masterpiece of theological doctrine, of love, and of literary accomplishment. It has for its author St. Thomas Aquinas, who, out of humble attachment to liturgical tradition, desired to use, in part, antiphons, readings and responses already in use in some particular churches. The procession following the Mass became generally obligatory in the 15th century.

The antiphon for the Introït is borrowed from Whit Monday. The best of the wheat spoken of here by the psalmist refers to the most holy body of Jesus.


The versicle of the Gradual is the same as that of the third Thursday of Lent.


The versicle of the Alleluia is taken from the passage of the Gospel: "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed..." These two clear affirmations by Jesus contain an advance condemnation of the divers heresies which came to deny the real presence of Christ in His Sacrament, reducing everything to a mere symbol. "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood," says Christ, "abideth in me and I in him."


Then follows the splendid sequence composed by St. Thomas Aquinas, wherein the entire Catholic doctrine on the divine Eucharist is resumed. It was a difficult task to give suitable poetic form to a theme demanding the most exact and clear theological expression. But St. Thomas succeeded.


The versicle of the antiphon of the Offertory is taken from Leviticus (21:6), and expresses the eminent holiness required of the priest in order for him to worthily approach the altar and offer there, in the midst of incense, the bread of proposition.


The antiphon for the Communion-contrary to the classical liturgical tradition by which this piece of music borrows its text from the psalter or the Gospel-is taken from the Epistle to the Corinthians. It is a reminder that the Eucharistic sacrifice commemorates the Lord's death.

 

 
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