The two moments: the triumph of Christ and the great vital explosion of nature meet in this celebration which stands out as the richest, most sumptuous, even pompous of liturgical celebrations: it is pay homage and celebrate the King of the world in his glory and place and offer everything that man finds at his disposal in order to honor and thank him. Thus everyone, together with nature, vegetation, animals are called to the commitment of celebrating this feast which has its core in the great Eucharistic procession that crosses cities, lands, villages between songs and apparatus, triumphal arches, carpets and showers of flowers , display of drapes on the windows and sumptuous vestments. Nothing is seen too much to honor the Savior who under the Eucharistic species walks the paths of men.
The celebration is the most recent of the great religious festivals: it was established in 1247 under the inspiration of the Blessed Juliana of Rétine, seer and prioress of the Monastery of Monte Cornelio, near Liège (1193-1258). In 1208 the Blessed had a vision: a lunar disk shining with light was marked on one side by a dark area which indicated that the liturgy lacked a solemnity in honor of the SS. Sacramento and this had to be remedied. This found a hearing among the theologians and religious people of the diocese, including the Provincial of the Dominicans Ugo di San Caro, who asked Bishop Roberto di Thorote to celebrate the feast in the diocese, which was granted and occurred in 1246. It was Ugo di San Caro , who became cardinal and papal legate in Flanders, to prescribe in his district the celebration which in the meantime by its natural force was spreading throughout Europe.
Then when Hugh of San Caro became pope with the name of Urban IV in 1262, he saw to it that Corpus Domini (initially called Festum Eucharistiae) was established as a feast for the whole Church with the bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, on 11 August 1264.
However, perhaps this would not have happened so soon if the famous miracle of Bolsena had not occurred the year before. This is the town of Santa Cristina, martyr perhaps under Diocletian, to whom the Collegiate Church is dedicated, under whose main altar her bones rest. In the Chapel of the Miracle there is the Altar of Santa Cristina or of the Four Columns, whose frontal is said to be the stone on which Santa Cristina sailed in the lake and preserves the imprints of her feet. Mass was said there in 1263 by a Bohemian priest, Peter of Prague, who was going to Rome to ask forgiveness for his grave sins and seek comfort for his disbelief in the transubstantiation of the body of Christ in the host. During his consecration he saw the consecrated host bleeding in his hands. The news of the fact had great resonance and Pope Urban IV, who was in Orvieto, wanted to personally examine the bloody corporal which he had placed with great honor in Orvieto where the great cathedral was then built to guard it.
It seems that it was this miracle that eliminated the pontiff's hesitations and decided him to establish the festival. However, even if neither the bull of institution nor other official documents make a connection between the two facts, no one denies that the event was highly considered by the Pope and certainly had an importance in his decision.
The same documentary uncertainty, but with a strong propensity for the affirmative conclusion, exists for the attribution to St. Thomas Aquinas of the officiating of the feast, which is one of the most beautiful and profound that exists. The Saint was in Viterbo when the feast was declared official and was part of the scholars who were around Urban IV.
Here too, the documents from recent years are silent, but the affirmation of those from the immediately following years is almost unanimous, among other things the testimony of Fra Tolomeo da Lucca who was his confessor. There will probably have been previous songs and compositions taken or reworked, but the fact is that the texts show a splendid literary form, an uncommon doctrine, a depth of knowledge on the Eucharistic mystery that can be attributed to St. Thomas, like the three hymns Pange glorious languages, Sacris solemnis juncta sint gaudia and Verbum supernum prodiens, without forgetting the sequence Lauda, ​​Sion, Salvatorem, perhaps by another hand.
Added to this splendor is that of the traditions which concern above all the great procession which was born spontaneously by the people, without there having been stimuli or documents from the hierarchies, even if it was regulated afterwards. The procession was once widespread throughout Europe, and still remains so in certain locations, a function that occupied almost the entire day: the itinerary was very long and there were no short stops in places of religious importance such as churches, chapels, places of memories, where the people were blessed, homages were paid to the SS. Sacrament, with songs, speeches, showers of flowers, even dramatic actions. Naturally the vestments were the richest, the decorations sumptuous, the apparatus at the limit of what the community could.
The Confraternities of the SS contributed to this. Sacramento arose mainly in the 14th century. Over time there also came the custom, as in the Rogations, of blessing the countryside and crops during some of these stops.
The element that was never missing was the flower display: although modest or reduced to the simple scattering of flowers by children along the procession route, it was also present in the events of tiny communities. In much of Italy the broom flower predominates: splendid in its yellow colour, very fragrant and abundant along the roads and in the woods, it is truly the flower of the Corpus Domini procession.
Where the communities were numerous, the streets along which the procession passed were adorned with petals, covering the pavements with real carpets with images and ornaments, often designed and created with true art.
The custom, made difficult to carry out by the presence of traffic and other changes in times, continues and has often become an important event that sometimes colludes with old agricultural rites, other times with modern flower festivals. We can mention many places such as Orvieto, Bolsena, Ventimiglia and above all Genzano and Spello where the event occupies the whole town well beyond the time limits around the holiday.
This is a celebration that can be said to be open-air, profound in its mystery and popular in its manifestations, which embraces the most diverse aspects of nature and life, a day of praise to the Lord in which life becomes religiosity and religiosity becomes it brings life.