ARTICLES
June 2001 ARTICLES
Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Medieval Paris Comes to Huntington Beach
Revival of An Ancient Devotion
By Charles A. Coulombe
"Imagine yourself in Paris, in the year 1465; today is the Feast of Corpus Christi," said Benoit Turpin, president of Una Voce Orange County, the local branch of an international organization dedicated to the revival of the Church's traditional liturgy. Turpin's branch of Una Voce will sponsor a procession this year on the feast of Corpus Christi. What will such a procession look like? Turpin draws us again to medieval Paris.
"As you are approaching l'Ile de la Cite," continued Turpin, "where lies one of the jewels of all the European Cathedrals, Notre Dame de Paris, you hear Gregorian chant. You turn around the corner and see a beautiful procession. Clad in a golden cope, a priest bears the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance, while four laymen hold a canopy over him. Before them a thurifer swings his censer, and other acolytes scatter flowers. The choir precedes this group, singing the Pange Lingua Gloriosi; and still further forward, all the parish is solemnly walking. Displaying their belief that Christ is truly present, body and blood, soul and divinity, in the Eucharist, the company halts at several 'stations' or temporary altars along the way. At each of these stops, a solemn benediction with the Blessed Sacrament is performed. Eventually, the procession returns to the church, and Mass follows."
Of course, Una Voce's procession will not have the backdrop of Notre Dame de Paris, but they will try, as they did last year in their first procession, to capture the spirit of that medieval procession. "We may not have any gargoyles nor any troubadours," said Turpin, "but we will have young ladies in white dresses spreading petals in front of the Blessed Sacrament, as well as Gregorian Chants throughout the ceremony. We are promoting the Kingship of Jesus Christ. and I don't know of too many better ways to do this than by public display of our Lord in the Eucharist, accompanied by traditional liturgy and Gregorian chants."
This ceremony originated in the thirteenth century. Blessed Juliana of Cornillon, a Belgian nun, from age 16 on, often had a vision during her prayers of a full moon in brilliant light, while a part of its disc remained black. Finally, Christ told her the meaning of this vision. The moon represented the ecclesiastical year; the black spot indicated the lack of a festival in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. She was to tell the Church hierarchy that God wished the establishment of such a feast.
In 1230 Juliana revealed this secret to a small group of theologians and, as a result, she had to suffer scorn and ridicule for a long time. But the bishop of Liege eventually listened to her. A diocesan synod in 1246 decided in her favor and prescribed such a feast for the churches of Liege. Some years later, Jacques Pantaleon, archdeacon of Liege, was elected Pope, taking the name Urban IV (1261-1265). On September 8, 1264, six years after Juliana's death, he established for the whole Church that festival in honor of the Holy Eucharist. It was to be celebrated with great solemnity on the Thursday after Pentecost week, and indulgences were granted to all who would receive Holy Communion or attend special devotions in addition to hearing Mass.
Urban IV commissioned both Saints Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas to compose the texts of Mass and Divine Office for the new feast. When St. Bonaventure read what his friend had come up with, he burned his own; St. Thomas' work is used even today. Later the feast of Corpus Christi was also accepted by some Eastern Rites (Syrians, Armenians, Copts, and Melkites). Corpus Christi is a holy day of obligation, except n the United States, where the Holy See exempted the faithful by a special dispensation; since Vatican II the Church in this country celebrates on the Sunday following the traditional day.
The Corpus Christi procession soon became a popular element of the feast. In the Middle Ages and in Catholic Europe and Latin America today, it was more elaborate. Kings and Emperors, student societies and hunting fraternities, guilds and courtroom personnel, soldiers and sailors joined the procession. Often there were tableaux on carts illustrating Bible and saints' stories and Church dogmas; intricate floral patters covered the paths on which the procession would walk.
After Vatican II, when Eucharistic devotion in the United States declined, Corpus Christi processions went out of favor, not least of all in Southern California. When I was growing up in the 1970s they were unknown here. The pope's proclamation of 2000 as a Jubilee Year revived the custom in some American dioceses. In his "Pastoral Message to Start the Jubilee Year 2000," issued on December 20, 1999, Cardinal Roger Mahony wrote: "The Holy Father has proclaimed the year 2000 to be an intensely Eucharistic year. Therefore Parishes are invited to conduct special Eucharistic Celebrations as part of this Eucharistic focus of the Jubilee Year. Possible dates in 2000 for these celebrations include the Easter Season, the Feast of Corpus Christi (June 24/25, 2000), or another time more convenient for the Parish and its members.
"I wish to encourage all our parishes to consider a special Parochial Eucharistic Procession on the Feast of Corpus Christi. The Easter Season and the Sundays of June, including the Feast of Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and the Feast of Corpus Christi provide an opportunity to focus on Eucharist as the source and summit of Church life."
Thus, many parishes remounted such processions last year, and some will do so again, this June 17, the Sunday on which Corpus Christi will be celebrated in the United States.
However, on the traditional date (Thursday, June 14) when the rest of the world will celebrate Corpus Christi, Una Voce Orange County will sponsor a their Latin-language procession with Gregorian chant. It will take place at St. Mary's-by-the-Sea Church in Huntington Beach at 6 p.m. There will be three outdoor stations plus the fourth at the church's main altar. Last year over 300 turned out for the procession.
At Santa Teresita Hospital in Duarte there will be a 7 p.m. procession on Saturday, June 16. Conducted in English, it will wend its way from the chapel through the hospital grounds.
St. Stephen's Hungarian Catholic Church near U.S.C. will feature a procession following its 9:15 a.m. German Mass. The ceremony will take place in Latin, Magyar, German, Spanish, and English.
Further west, after the noon Mass at Our Lady of Bright Mount, a Polish-language procession will begin. It will pursue its course through the church's park-like property.
The Roman basilica-like Church of St. Andrew in Pasadena offers a Spanish language procession with solemn benedictions at three stations following the 2 p.m. Mass. All of these proceedings will be held out on the street.
Out in Solvang, Mission Santa Inez will be holding its procession at 3 p.m. Mission San Gabriel, in San Gabriel, will also be offering one, at a time as yet undetermined.
"In Lebanon," said Father Albert Wehby, pastor of St. Anne's Melkite Greek parish in North Hollywood, "I have conducted many such processions, and it is very popular there. While we will not be having one here, we will celebrate the proper [Byzantine] Liturgy of Corpus Christi on the traditional date, July 14, at 8:30 a.m. But because so few people can come to it, we will be using some of the same proper prayers and I will preach on the feast at the 9:30 English and 11:30 Arabic liturgies" on Sunday.
On Sunday at 10:30 a.m., a procession will be held with the liturgy at St. Paul's Assyrian Chaldean Church, also in North Hollywood. The Chaldean rite uses Aramaic, the language of Christ, in its liturgy.
More area locations may be found by consulting the office of worship for the archdiocese of Los Angeles and the dioceses of Orange, San Bernardino, and Fresno.
CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSIONS
For information on Corpus Christi processions, contact:
UNA VOCE ORANGE COUNTY (888) 876-0036
ST. MARY'S-BY-THE-SEA, 321 Tenth Street, Huntington Beach, CA 92648-4501, (714) 536-6913
SANTA TERESITA HOSPITAL, 1210 Royal Oaks Drive, Duarte, CA 91010-1703, (626) 359-3243
ST. STEPHEN'S CHURCH, 3705 Woodlawn Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90011-2642, (323) 234-9246
OUR LADY OF BRIGHT MOUNT CHURCH, 3424 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90018-4900, (323) 734-5249
ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, 311 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91103-3896, (626) 792-4183
MISSION SANTA INES, 1760 Mission Drive, P.O. Box 408, Solvang, CA 93464, Phone: (805) 688-4815
MISSION SAN GABRIEL, 428 Mission Drive, San Gabriel, CA 91776-1201, (626) 282-5191
ST. ANNE MELKITE GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH, 11211 Moorpark Street, North Hollywood, CA 91602-2601, (818) 761-2034
ST. PAUL ASSYRIAN CHALDEAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 13050 Vanowen Street, North Hollywood, CA 91605-4829, (818) 765-3665
OFFICE OF WORSHIP, ARCHDIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES, (213) 637-7262
OFFICE OF WORSHIP, DIOCESE OF ORANGE, (714) 282-3000
OFFICE OF WORSHIP, DIOCESE OF SAN BERNARDINO, (909) 475-5335
DIOCESE OF FRESNO, (559) 488-7474