The Catholic Church today celebrates the feast of the Corpus Christi to proclaim the fact of transubstantiation which means transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. The festival of Corpus Christi celebrates the Eucharist as the body of Christ.
Thousands of Catholics from the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Harare thronged Dominican Convent High School grounds to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi which is the source and summit of Catholic faith. Fr. Kennedy Muguty stressed that one cannot be a true Catholic without believing and witnessing to the mystery of the truth of the body and bloody of Christ. He said the Eucharist is the anchor of Catholic faith as it is from the Eucharist that the Church draws its power and hope.
The celebration was concluded with a 45-minute procession and benediction.
According to the Encyclopaedia of Catholicism, Corpus Christi, also known as the Solemnity of the Body and Bloody of Christ falls on the Sunday following Trinity Sunday. This feast originated in the Diocese of Liege in France in 1246 based on revelations of the French nun Juliana of Mont-Cornillon (1192-1258). Enthusiastic acceptance in Europe led to universal promulgation by Pope Urban IV in 1264. The feast duplicates the Eucharistic focus of Holy Thursday, highlighting the redemptive effects of the sacrament. A prominent feature of the feast since the fourteenth century has been a Eucharistic procession. Current legislation allows a procession immediately after Mass in which the host to be carried has been consecrated, or after a lengthy period of public adoration.