Corpus Christi

Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi and here in Germany it is a public holiday.

I went to Mass at 9am and my goodness what a beautiful experience it was.  

What a Holy exaltation of the Most Blessed Sacrament!

Our Church is a basilica dedicated to St Suidbertus and today the interior looked wonderful.  The altar was lit by large candles and the air was heavy with the smell of incense.  There were four priests, thirty four altar servers (I counted them), members of the St Sebastien Brotherhood in their black silk top hats and carrying the banners of their order.  Members of the St Peter's Brotherhood were also there similarly dressed while the (I think) St Suidbertus group, were dressed in their green hussar uniforms and carrying banners with St Suidbertus on them.

Holy Mass began and, joined by the choir and the thumpingly good organ, we sang and prayed and celebrated this wonderful feast.  

At the conclusion, four men dressed in black and wearing what looked like hunting caps came and stood in the aisle facing the altar, in front of them came some of the altar servers, carrying the processional cross, they then turned and moved down to the back of the church.  As they did so we left our pews and fell in behind them, followed by the rest of the altar servers carrying bells and candles, the priests, then four men carrying a baldequin under which processed a priest carrying the Blessed Sacrament within an ornate wooden monstrance.  Behind him were the members of the brotherhoods who had been standing at the very back of the altar while Holy Mass was offered.  

The back doors (which used to be the main front doors until serious damage suffered in WWII) were opened and we processed outside into the courtyard.  Once we were all outside the priest gave the order and we processed out and down to the Rhine.  We moved passed the old castle, along the avenue and out into the fields.  Singing hymns and chanting decades of the rosary as we went.

Horses along the way came galloping across the meadow towards the fences, and then stood as if anxious to see the Blessed Sacrament pass by!  

Soon we re entered the town which was decorated with papal flags and banners with religious symbols, all the while singing and praising God.

Soon we entered the school grounds and here we stopped at the outdoor wooden chapel.  Benediction was given and then we were off again, procession through the town, past the little supermarket, the antique shop, the shoe shop, past our own apartment, down the high street where all the nice cafés are, and through the old alley ways, past the old almshouses, until we were back in front of the church for a final blessing.  The bells of the church peeled forth in joy and slowly I made my way back home.

Three hours had passed but it felt like no time at all.

Why cannot our own bishops in England, Wales, the US, Australia etc see that it is in keeping the old celebrations in full, on the correct days, with due ceremony, that we the people, gain so much spiritual nourishment?