Fresh rose petals along the ground, little girls in white dresses, incense wafting through the air, kneeling figures before a solemn outdoor altar, whereupon a gleaming monstrance stands – these have become familiar and anticipated sights of Corpus Christi in all Institute apostolates across the United States.

For centuries, the solemn procession of Corpus Christi has been an annual pageant that the Church reveals the Eucharistic Presence to the world, and shares Its blessings to all corners of the universe.

The practice of the Church to honor her Lord publicly and to show her adoration and love for her Divine Spouse is no less relevant today than in all centuries before this. Just as in the mystery of the Visitation, when the Blessed Virgin Mary carried Our Lord in her womb to her cousin Elizabeth, so the Church brings Our Lord, the Real Presence veiled in the Sacred Host, to her neighbors, so that they too may bask in His Divine Love.

Perhaps more visibly than all other feasts, the celebration of Corpus Christi, particularly the practice of holding a procession, is also a sign of a united Faith – across time that spans the past, the present, and the future, and across space that spans the breadth of the United States, and indeed, the whole world. The Church honors her Eucharistic Lord as one body, and does so joyfully, solemnly, and publicly.

St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the principal co-patrons of the Institute, composed the hymn Pange Lingua for the Feast of Corpus Christi in the Thirteenth Century. Even as we view all these photos from various Institute apostolates, we can practically hear all of the faithful singing:

Tantum ergo Sacramentum
veneremur cernui:
et antiquum documentum
novo cedat ritui:
praestet fides supplementum
sensuum defectui.
Genitori, Genitoque
laus et jubilatio,
salus, honor, virtus quoque
sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque compar sit laudatio.
Amen.

Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail,
Lo! oe'r ancient forms departing
Newer rites of grace prevail;
Faith for all defects supplying,
Where the feeble senses fail.
To the everlasting Father,
And the Son Who reigns on high
With the Holy Spirit proceeding
Forth from each eternally,
Be salvation, honor blessing,
Might and endless majesty.
Amen.