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June 22, 2025, Corpus Christi

The year was 1263, and Father Peter of Prague had come to a difficult moment in his priesthood. He had grown discouraged by what he witnessed of the laziness and laxity of the clergy, a growing disinterestedness of the laity, and a lack of reverence for the liturgy. This discouragement was growing into doubt, and so at the suggestion of his spiritual director, Father Peter set out on a pilgrimage to Rome.

Along the way, he stopped in the Italian town of Bolsena, about 70 miles north of Rome. Bolsena is home to the tomb of St. Christina, a third century virgin martyr. While celebrating Mass there at her tomb, at the moment Father Peter pronounced the words of consecration, the host began to bleed. Recognizing that something extraordinary had occurred, Father Peter wrapped the bleeding host in the corporal and brought it to the nearby town of Orvieto, where Pope Urban IV was living, at the time.

After investigation, the Pope declared that a miracle had occurred, and the following year he instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi for the whole Church, and requested that St. Thomas Aquinas compose prayers and hymns for the feast day. We still use several of those hymns today: Pange Lingua (and Tantum Ergo), O Salutaris Hostia, Adoro Te Devote, Lauda Sion, and others.

Today you can still visit the Cathedral in Orvieto and if you are lucky they will have the blood-stained corporal exposed for veneration.

Of course, a 13^th-century Eucharistic miracle isn’t the reason that we believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and each one of us witnesses the miracle of transubstantiation at every celebration of the Mass. We believe that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist and we celebrate the Mass because we believe that Christ meant what he said in those words that the priest repeats at every Mass: This is my body. This is the chalice of my blood. Do this in memory of me.

Happy Feast of Corpus Christi!

Fr. Berhorst