Year after year a large number of Latin countries celebrate a date that has surpassed the limits of beliefs, becoming a traditional and festive ritual, where the procession of the host (representation of the body of Christ) is the main protagonist.
The meaning of Corpus Christi (translation from Latin: Body of Christ), also know as Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ or as Corpus Christi ( equivalent to body of the lord) is intended to celebrate the Eucharist. The celebration takes place on the Thursday that follows the eighth Sunday after the Easter Sunday. This year we will celebrate 3 of June.
The origins of its festive celebration date back to the 13th century, when the Augustinian nun Julian of Liège begins to make strong demands for the celebration of the Corpus Christi. Julian of Liège affirmed that since her youth, God had instructed her so that one day she could establish the festival of the body of godrequesting then numerous personalities of the church, until arriving at the Pope Urban IV.
Since in those times the bishops could order festivals in their dioceses, the bishop Robert de Thorete ordered the celebration of Corpus Christi in the year 1246 to be celebrated each subsequent year. Years later Robert de Thorete and the nun Julian of Liège They died, but the celebration continued to be celebrated by the inhabitants of various cities.
Around 1263 the Pope Urban IV begins to investigate the claims of the so-called Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena, in which a consecrated host began to bleed. A year later the Pope published a bull (Transiturus Corpus Christilisten)) in which a feast was held throughout the Latin rite. From that moment they began to celebrate the Corpus Christi formally, changing the dates according to the countries and regions.
Currently this festival is manifested especially in Spain mainly, as well as in Latin countries such as the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Chile, Peru and Venezuela. Also in other countries such as Brazil, Croatia, Poland, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal among others.