Corpus Domini

Sorry it's been such a long time since I've posted, but surely there is still a lot to say.  Papers and exams, among other things, have kept me away from this blog.  Now, though, I've finally put some pictures on my computer, so it's time to share.  And now, just a couple more papers and one more exam to close out this school year.

Here the feast of Corpus Christi is called Corpus Domini, and there is an odd situation regarding it.  For, as in the US, the celebration of this feast is commonly postponed until Sunday throughout Italy.  However, in the Vatican it is still celebrated on Thursday.  Every year the pope celebrates Mass at his cathedral--St. John Lateran--and then processes from there with the Blessed Sacrament to St. Mary Major.  Thousands of faithful participate.  But this is in Rome, where the rest of the diocese treats the day as the Thursday of the 9th week of Ordinary Time.

 It is hard to get inside the cathedral for Mass at 7pm, as space there is rather limited, and it's hard to see much from inside anyway.  I decided to start from a bit up the Via Merulana, and watched the procession as it came by.

 Many of the churches and apartments along the route had decorations hanging out, honoring the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Father. 

 After he arrived on his float with the Holy Eucharist, the hundreds or thousands of us who had been watching from the sidelines went around the barriers and joined the procession, singing and praying.

 When we reached St. Mary Major, we all sang the Tantum Ergo, and the Holy Father then offered  Benediction.

People went home after that, but that was no easy feat.  Trying to get back to the normal streets around barricades while a thousand or so others are trying to do the same means a lot of shoving and squishing!

It's a little late now, but Buona festa di Corpus Domini!