Corpus Christi: The Liturgical Masterpiece of St. Thomas Aquinas

 

Published in Dominican Ashram, Vol. 6 Issue 1 (March 2024), pp. 22-27. Reproduced with permission.

A few days after the conclusion of the Easter season, Catholics all around the world celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ – more commonly known as Corpus Christi. This celebration has the designation of a ‘Solemnity,’ one of the highest-ranking celebrations in the liturgical year. It is not only the Church’s liturgical law that ensures the dignified and solemn celebration of Corpus Christi, but the very devotion of the people of God all over the world bears witness to the great love that Catholic everywhere have for the Blessed Sacrament. Colourful Eucharistic processions, hours of fervent adoration and other devotions to the Blessed Sacrament are held all over the world. As Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) wrote: “What does Corpus Christi mean to me? Well, first of all it brings back memories of special feast days when we took quite literally what Thomas Aquinas put so well in one of his Corpus Christi hymns: Quantum potes tantum aude – dare to do as much as you can… This is what the entire Christian community feels called to do at Corpus Christi: dare to do what you can…”  Behind this great feast, there is the hand of our Dominican brother, St. Thomas Aquinas, who did quite literally what he wrote: he dared to do as much as he could to embellish and enrich the liturgical celebration of this feast with the fruits of his contemplation, the might of his intellect and the poetic flow of his pen.

A Brief History of the Feast

The Feast of Corpus Christi began with the efforts of St. Juliana of Liege, to whom Jesus appeared in a vision in 1208, requesting the establishment of this feast. At the request of Juliana, the Bishop of Liege instituted this feast in his diocese, and it was celebrated privately in various dioceses for about half a century, slowly gaining popularity in the Latin Church. While she was still discerning the suitability of this feast, St. Juliana had sought the advice of the Dominican, Hugh of St. Cher (then Provincial of France) and three other Dominican friars, all of whom were favourable and encouraging. In 1263, a renowned Eucharistic Miracle took place at Bolsena in Italy, which played a decisive role in the spread of this feast. Peter of Prague, a German priest, was traveling to Rome on pilgrimage. Making a stop at Bolsena, he prepared to celebrate Mass at the tomb of St. Christina, though doubts lingered in his mind about the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Soon after the Consecration, he noticed that blood began to trickle from the consecrated host, and stain the corporal on the altar. He rushed to the nearby town of Orvieto, where Pope Urban IV was stationed, and where, providentially, St. Thomas Aquinas was serving as conventual lector at the Convent of San Domenico. The Pope, upon hearing the priest’s account, sent emissaries to investigate the incident, one among them being St. Thomas Aquinas, and being convinced of the veracity of the miracle, received the blood-stained corporal with much solemnity at the Cathedral of Orvieto, where the corporal is still enshrined today. The very next year, in 1264, Pope Urban IV established the Feast of Corpus Christi for the Universal Church, through the Papal Bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, to be observed on the Thursday after Pentecost. It is widely believed that the Miracle at Bolsena was the immediate cause for the Pope’s decision to extend the feast to the Universal Church. While instituting this feast, Pope Urban IV entrusted St. Thomas Aquinas with the task of composing the Mass and the Office (the liturgical texts to be used) for the feast. There is some dispute among scholars as to whether St. Thomas composed the entire Mass and Office for Corpus Christi, or whether he just compiled it, making use of some pre-existing texts for the purpose.

 

St. Thomas – The Poet and Panegyrist of the Holy Eucharist

While we may never know the actual reason why St. Thomas was asked to compose the liturgy for this feast, L. H. Petitot, OP, beautifully comments of the suitability of this choice. According to him, Aquinas’ “formation in theological studies and the general character of his mystical life providentially predestined [him] to compose this Office. Raised until his fourteenth year in the famous Abbey of Monte Cassino, he was formed by the liturgy. He learned to love Gregorian chant and the beautiful hymns of the Office. This sensitivity for religious poetry gradually developed in his soul… Thomas’ careful studies of the Messianic symbolism of the Prophets in the Old Testament, the theology of the Eucharist, and his particular devotion to the Sacrament of the Altar seemed to have prepared him from his birth to create this Office… It is religious and theological poetry tempered by the tears of contemplation.” Pope Pius XI stated that St. Thomas “possessed the exceptional and highly privileged gift of being able to convert his precepts into liturgical prayers and hymns and so became the poet and panegyrist of the Divine Eucharist.” Though there were modifications to the text composed by St. Thomas in the fifteenth century reform of the liturgy, and even more drastic changes in the liturgy after Vatican II, the present liturgy of the feast also draws abundantly from his work.

 

The Divine Office

The Divine Office for Corpus Christi begins with First Vespers. At First and Second Vespers (Evening Prayer I and II), the Pange Lingua (‘Sing my tongue’), the most famous hymn composed by St. Thomas is used, even up until today. Additionally, it is prescribed for the Solemn Transfer of the Blessed Sacrament on Maundy Thursday. The last two stanzas of this hymn, the Tantum Ergo (‘Let all bow in adoration’) are used all over the world at the solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. This hymn expresses the great joy of the Eucharist being the Body and Blood of the Redeemer, the wonder of the institution of the Blessed Sacrament, the surpassing worship to be given to the Eucharist which is the new and perfect rite of Christian worship and the necessity of faith to supplement the failure of the senses in comprehending this great mystery. At First Vespers, the antiphons (which have remained largely unchanged) and the reading seem to stress the gift or the giving of the Lord in the Eucharist, a sentiment which reaches a strong culmination in thanksgiving for the gift received at the Magnificat antiphon: “Lord, how good you are… When you wished to show your goodness to your sons you gave them bread from heaven…”

Awaking in the middle of the night for Matins, the Church began her liturgy with the hymn Sacris Solemniis (‘At this our solemn feast’), a hymn that narrates the institution of the Holy Eucharist in great detail, drawing heavily on themes from the Old Testament especially with regard to the Passover and the ministry of priests. After Vatican II, Matins has given way to the Office of Readings and therefore there is a substantial change in the rest of this Office in the present liturgy. Aquinas’ composition had nine short readings from Scripture and other sources outlining the theology of the Eucharist and the history of the institution of this feast. It is fitting that in the present Office of Readings, the Second Reading is taken from the works of St. Thomas.

Morning Prayer (Lauds) includes the hymn Verbum Supernum Prodiens (‘Forth from on high the Father sends’), the last two stanzas of which are quite popular (O Salutaris Hostia - ‘O Saving Victim’). It speaks of the Word of God coming from the Father to redeem the human race and giving himself in the form of bread and wine, and prays that the Eucharistic Lord grant strength in spiritual warfare and victory over enemies. The language of the hymn, with its many outgoing words (relating to proceeding, giving, displaying, opening) and its reference to spiritual warfare have perhaps been the reason for its usage at processions of the Blessed Sacrament. The antiphons and the reading, all referring to the Old Testament, proclaim Christ to be the hidden manna from heaven and the priest who offers, from the rising of the sun to its setting, a pure and holy sacrifice. Christ is the fulfillment of all these Old Testament prophecies, as the Benedictus antiphon begins: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven.”

The Second Vespers of the Solemnity, while making use of the same antiphons and readings as at First Vespers, presents us with a very significant Magnificat antiphon, O Sacrum Convivium, “O sacred feast in which we partake of Christ: his sufferings are remembered, our minds are filled with his grace and we receive a pledge of the glory that is to be ours, alleluia.” This antiphon, which strikingly brings out the dignity and the graces of the Blessed Sacrament, is in use even today, notably in our Dominican communities before the celebration of the Divine Office in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

 

The Mass

While examining the Mass for Corpus Christi, it is important to keep in mind the extensive changes in the liturgy that have taken place between the time of St. Thomas and the present day, making it nearly impossible to compare the text of St. Thomas with the one we have presently. With regard to those elements which have no longer continued (such as the many antiphons), it would suffice to say that St. Thomas composed his antiphons largely making use of Scripture, theology and pious expressions, with an overall climate of jubilation permeating throughout. As there was no unique Preface for the occasion, St. Thomas prescribed the Preface of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas), which speaks of “the mystery of the Word made flesh,” in whom we recognize God made visible.

One of the prominent features is the opening prayer of the Mass (now known as the Collect), which is also common to the Divine Office, even in the present liturgy and is also used at Benediction. Deus, qui nobis sub Sacramento (‘God, who in this wonderful Sacrament’) is a prayer that the Church, by venerating the Body and Blood of Christ, may come to share in the fruits of Christ’s Redemption. The Prayer over the Gifts (then known as the ‘Secret’) and the Prayer after Communion have also remained essentially the same, praying for unity and peace and a share in eternal life through the Eucharist.

Another noteworthy feature is the Sequence (a liturgical hymn before the Gospel), which is composed by St. Thomas, namely, the Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem (Sion, lift up thy voice and sing). This is a rather long hymn, which is remarkable for the manner in which it combines serious theological themes with sentiments of joy, devotion and exultation, giving a very festive yet solemn tone to the liturgy. Placed between the Reading which narrates the institution of the Eucharist, and the Gospel in which Christ proclaims that His flesh and blood to be true food and drink, the Sequence urges the faithful to receive the Eucharist worthily, as one and the same Eucharist brings eternal life or death to those who receive it worthily or unworthily.

 

Conclusion

St. Thomas is usually associated with great works of theology and philosophy, far exceeding the grasp of most people. And yet, the legacy of St. Thomas is not merely restricted to these works. In composing the liturgical office of Corpus Christi, he has left behind a work of enduring merit, savoured by Catholics from generation to generation ever since. Many of his Eucharistic hymns have been translated into several languages, and some are familiar to us from our childhood. For the people of God, these liturgical compositions are a condensed theology of the Eucharist, in a manner simple enough to understand, yet sufficiently profound to invite us to deeper immersion in this surpassing mystery.

The unifying and pervading theme of the celebration of Corpus Christi is love – the sacrificial love of Jesus on the Cross that is renewed in each celebration of the Eucharist, a love which causes God to become small and take up a lowly dwelling to be with us to the end of time. Cardinal Ratzinger comments that everything “that is said and done on Corpus Christi is in fact a single variation on the theme of love, what it is and what it does. In one of his Corpus Christi hymns Thomas Aquinas puts it beautifully: nec sumptus consumitur – love does not consume: it gives, and in giving, receives… Love is transubstantiation, transformation. Corpus Christi tells us: Yes, there is such a thing as love, and therefore there is transformation, therefore there is hope.” May the writings and example of St. Thomas lead us to a deeper devotion and love for the Body and Blood of Christ.