Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2010 / Corpus Christi processions to carry Christ into the community
Corpus Christi processions to carry Christ into the community
by Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published May 28, 2010
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Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic
Micki Czerniak, of St. Mary Parish in Detroit's Greektown, shows the embroidered dove representing the Holy Spirit on the underside of the canopy that will be used for this year's Corpus Christi procession, weather permitting. |
DETROIT –Catholics will take to the streets next Sunday, June 6, carrying the Blessed Sacrament with them in celebration of the solemnity of the Most holy Body and Blood of Christ – traditionally know as Corpus Christi.
Archbishop Allen Vigneron will, for the second year, carry the monstrance containing the consecrated host in the second annual Corpus Christi procession into the neighborhood around the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit's North End.
St. Mary Parish in Detroit's Greektown district will join with two other downtown parishes in a Corpus Christi procession through the streets of downtown Detroit.
In Dearborn Heights, members of two parishes will join together in a Corpus Christi procession between St. Linus Church and St. Mel Church.
A number of other parishes offer Corpus Christi processions as well.
Join in
All the Corpus Christi processions on Sunday, June 6, are open to participation from anyone who would like to join in. Here are the details:
- At the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, 9844 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Archbishop Allen Vigneron will celebrate the 11 a.m. Mass, after which there will be exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on the altar. At 2 p.m., the archbishop will conduct a Holy Hour, and the Corpus Christi procession will begin about 3 p.m. The procession will head north along Woodward to Trowbridge, then east to John R, where it will turn south. At Boston Boulevard, the procession will turn west back to Woodward, and then go north back to the cathedral. Archbishop Vigneron will then offer Solemn Benediction in the cathedral.
- The downtown Detroit procession will start out after the noon Mass at St. Mary Church, at St. Antoine at Monroe, head east on Monroe to the Chrysler Freeway Service Drive, then south to Holy Family Church, where it will pause for prayers in front of the church.
It will then head south to Jefferson Avenue, and west to SS. Peter & Paul (Jesuit) Church, where that parish's parishioners will join the procession for prayers in front of the church.
The procession will then continue along Jefferson to Beaubien, and head north to Monroe, then back to St. Mary Church.
- In Dearborn Heights, the procession will begin at St. Linus Church, at Hass and Evangeline, and proceed west on Hass past Beech-Daly Road and through the local neighborhoods on the 1.8-mile route to St. Mel Church on Inkster Road, just north of Warren Avenue. At St. Mel, the procession will conclude with prayers and Solemn Benediction, followed by refreshments.
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St. Mary Parish held a shorter Corpus Christi procession last year, but Fr. Edward Vilkauskas, CSSp, pastor of St. Mary and nearby Holy Family (Italian) Parish, said this year's will involve both of the clustered parishes, along with SS. Peter & Paul (Jesuit) Parish, their nearest neighbor.
"We thought that by taking a longer route we'd be really making a proclamation, literally bringing Christ to the city," he said.
Celebrating the Mass and carrying the monstrance in the procession will be Fr. James Brent, OP, a member of St. Mary Parish who will have been ordained the previous weekend in Washington, D.C.
Weather permitting, Fr. Brent will carry the monstrance underneath an embroidered silk canopy "that hasn't been used in years and years," said Micki Czerniak, volunteer liturgical decoration coordinator at St. Mary Parish.
Czerniak said she did not know when the canopy was made, but that an expert in liturgical textiles had said it was almost certainly before World War II.
"We had Howard Sutcliffe, the textile conservator at the Detroit Institute of Arts, here last year to look at some of our altar furnishings that need repair and restoration, and I showed him the canopy. He was so impressed that he took pictures and e-mailed them to the Royal School of Needlework in England," she said.
Among the aspects that make the embroidery work special is the use of metal thread in some of the decorations, notably the Lamb of God image on one side of the canopy, Czerniak said.
The other three sides feature embroidery representing other symbols associated with our Lord. The underside of the canopy features an embroidered dove representing the Holy Spirit.
In case of rain, the procession will use an umbrella-like canopy that belongs to Holy Family Parish, Czerniak said.
During the procession from the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Archbishop Allen Vigneron will carry the consecrated host in a monstrance that was blessed by the late Pope John Paul II with the special intention of encouraging vocations.
Participants in the cathedral procession are once again encouraged to wear the traditional garb of their ethnic heritage, and all of those who came into the Church this past Easter are also encouraged to take part, said Fr. Lee Acervo, who is assisting with the arrangements.
"As Catholics, we believe the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. A Corpus Christi procession is not only a sign of our devotion to the Eucharist, but a witness to others of the power of the Eucharist," he said.
"It is a great witness to our faith, and to our belief that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist," added Fr. Acervo, associate pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth.
Daniel McAfee, director of the archdiocesan Office for Christian Worship, explained that the feast of Corpus Christi originated in the 13th century.
"Juliana of Liege, an Augustinian nun, had a vision of the Blessed Sacrament as a shining disk, but there was a spot on it. It was explained that the spot was because there was not a separate feast for the Blessed Sacrament, and she got Pope Urban IV to declare one," McAfee said.
"St. Thomas Aquinas himself wrote the Divine Office and the Mass texts for the feast. The hymn, 'Humbly, We Adore Thee,' is one of the texts that he wrote," he added.
Soon after, still in the 13th century, the custom of processions began.
The feast and processions arose during a time of theological controversy about whether Christ was really substantially present or only symbolically present in the Eucharist, McAfee continued.
And although the custom of Corpus Christi processions all but died out during the 1960s, it is now being revived in many places.
"There is a resurgence of devotions today, and a desire by many people to fully experience the life of the Church through its traditional devotions," he added.
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