Corpus Christi

Thomas Aquinas

Pange Lingua (hymn for Vespers on the Feast of Corpus Christi), stanza 5


Down in adoration falling,

Lo! the sacred Host we hail,

Lo! oe'r ancient forms departing

Newer rites of grace prevail;

Faith for all defects supplying,

Where the feeble senses fail.




Aquinas also wrote a powerful prayer for the festival, that encompasses many aspects of the doctrine of the eucharist:


O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament left us a memorial of your Passion: grant, we implore you, that we may so venerate the sacred mysteries of your body and blood, as always to be conscious of the fruit of your redemption.

Angel of Fatima

Today's solemnity carries me back to Fatima and the third apparition of the angel to the children in the autumn of 1916, prior to the apparitions of our Lady in the summer of 1917.

At this apparition the angel appeared to them holding a chalice in his left hand, with a host suspended above it, from which some drops of blood fell into the chalice. Leaving the chalice and the host suspended in the air, the angel prostrated beside the little shepherds and asked them to say the following prayer:

"Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference with which He Himself is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners."

Then, rising, the angel took the chalice and the hosts in his hands. He gave the host to Lucia, and the contents of the chalice to Francisco and Jacinta, saying as he did so: "Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God".

Once again, he prostrated on the ground and repeated with them, three times more, the same prayer "Most Holy Trinity...." He then disappeared. He had completed his mission. Six months later, the heavens would open once more to make way for her who was to bring a message of love and salvation to mankind.