Corpus Christi is a Catholic festival and therefore not a national holiday, but only in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.

In Saxony and Thuringia it only applies to a few Catholic communities.

The churches that emerged from the Reformation do not celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi.

In 2022, Corpus Christi falls on Thursday 16 June. 

Catholics also celebrate Corpus Christi as a way of distinguishing themselves from Protestants

Corpus Christi is always 60 days after Easter and ten days after Pentecost, always on a Thursday.

The name, derived from the Old High German "vrone-lichnam", means something like "high festival of the body and blood of Christ".

In many places - including the Vatican - the festival is celebrated on the following Sunday.

With the festival, Catholics publicly express their belief that God is in their midst in the bread and wine.

As a visible sign, a richly decorated monstrance with a consecrated host is carried through the streets in a solemn procession.

What Corpus Christi has to do with Maundy Thursday

The Catholic holiday is closely related to Maundy Thursday: On the Thursday before Easter, Christians commemorate Jesus' last supper with his disciples.

According to the Bible, on Maundy Thursday Jesus gave his disciples bread and wine and spoke the words that Christians repeat at every supper: "This is my body" and "This is my blood".

With this, Jesus gave his disciples to understand that through the celebration of the Lord's Supper he will remain connected to them even after his death.

That is exactly what is celebrated on Corpus Christi: Jesus' abiding presence in the Lord's Supper, also known as the Eucharist.

But because Holy Week – and with it Maundy Thursday as well – is celebrated quietly and the focus is on the suffering of Jesus, a colorful celebration is out of the question.

So on another day - Corpus Christi - the Catholic Church recalls its conviction that Jesus died for mankind and his presence in the wine and in the consecrated bread, the communion wafers, with processions and consecrations.  

During the Corpus Christi procession, a consecrated host, which represents the body of Jesus, is traditionally carried by a priest in a monstrance, a valuable display device, under a canopy.

Flags and crosses are carried in front of him.

Behind them are altar servers, clergy, communion children, representatives of the secular authorities and the faithful.

The beginnings of all four gospels are read along the procession. 

In some communities, the Catholics decorate the streets festively and decorate them with carpets of flowers.  

This holiday was included in the canon of the Catholic Church quite late.

Historically, the first procession is documented for 1277 in Cologne, after Pope Urban IV had established the festival for the entire church in 1264.

1317 ordered Pope John XXII.

consider Thursday as a holiday.

The festival goes back to a vision of the Augustinian nun Juliana of Liège in 1209;

she was later canonized.

According to Luther, Corpus Christi lacks the biblical foundation

Corpus Christi was first celebrated with a procession in Cologne in the 1270s.

During the Reformation, the festival developed into a denomination-separating feature.

Luther described it in 1527 as the “most harmful annual festival” that lacked a biblical foundation.

The contrast has meanwhile weakened: in recent years there have also been several joint Corpus Christi processions at Protestant church conferences.

After almost all processions had to be canceled in the last two years due to the corona pandemic, things are looking better again this time.

Traditions associated with the festival, such as the "Mülheimer Gottestracht" ship procession on the Rhine near Cologne or the lake procession on Lake Staffelsee, can also take place again.

Pope cancels Vatican celebrations

There will be no celebrations for Corpus Christi in the Vatican on Sunday.

Due to the Pope's ongoing knee problems, the Vatican canceled both the Mass and the procession to the Catholic Solemnity on Monday.

Last Friday, the Vatican had already postponed the Pope's Africa trip planned for early July to an indefinite date due to the health restrictions of the head of the church.

The 85-year-old has been suffering from severe knee pain for several months, which significantly limits his freedom of movement.

Since the beginning of May he has been doing his public appointments in a wheelchair.

In an interview, Francis stated that the symptoms were the result of a torn ligament that was slow to heal.

Until the beginning of the pandemic, Pope Francis celebrated Corpus Christi with the traditional procession and mass in different parts of Rome.

In the past two years, due to the corona, the celebrations were limited to a service with a few participants in St. Peter's Basilica.