Corpus Christi

National Holiday in Various Countries

Celebrated in
Austria
Brazil
Germany
Portugal

Dates
2008	May 22
2009	May 22
2010	June 3
2011	June 23
2012	June 7
2013	May 30
2013	June 19

The Feast of Corpus Christi ("Fronleichnam") is a Catholic festival celebrated on the second Thursday after Whitsun.

Corpus Christi means the Body of Christ and refers to the elements of the Eucharist also called the Holy Communion, Last Supper or Lord's Supper

The emergence of Corpus Christi as a Christian feast didn't happen until the second half of the thirteenth-century with the efforts of nun called Juliana of Liège.

Since childhood, Juliana had been claiming that God had been telling her that there should be a feast day for the Eucharist and eventually she petitioned the Bishop of Liège. IN those days bishops could order feasts in their local dioceses. The bishop agreed to the feast and convened a synod in 1246 and ordered that a celebration of Corpus Christi should be held annually.

The Corpus Christi celebration only started to become more widespread after both Juliana and the Bishop had died. In 1264 Pope Urban IV issued the papal bull Transiturus in which Corpus Christi was made a feast throughout the entire Latin Rite.

Corpus Christi is primarily a Roman Catholic feast, but it is also acknowledged in the calendar of a few Anglican churches, most notably the Church of England. It is also celebrated by some Western Rite Orthodox Christians. Across many parts of medieval Europe, Corpus Christi was a popular time for the performance of mystery plays.

In Germany, this is a regional holiday in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North-Rhine Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Thuringia.

Corpus Christi is a public holiday in Catholic countries such as Austria, Portugal, Brazil, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Poland, San Marino, Trinidad and Tobago and Croatia.

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