The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ and Saint Yves

image0017-248x300In 1264, Pope Urban IV instituted the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, as a reply to the heresy of Berenger of Tours’ that denied Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. In his Bull Transiturus, he wrote: “It is right, in order to reply to some heretics’ madness, to remind ourselves of the presence of Christ in the Holy Sacrament.” Normally, this feast takes place sixty days after Easter, which is on the Thursday that comes after the solemnity of the Holy Trinity, as it is the case in Brazil for instance. In countries where this day is not a legal holiday any more, it is transferred to the next Sunday, as in France for instance.

Several links may be established between this celebration that has just occurred in the Church and Saint Yves himself.

First, Saint Yves was still alive while it was instituted, for he died in 1303. Second, Pope Urban, a son of a cobbler in the city of Troyes, was the bishop of Verdun, before becoming Patriarch of Jerusalem: like Saint Yves, he came from a territory that nowadays belongs to contemporary France, then. By the way, latter, in the XVIIth century, one of the characteristics of the “French School” was to propagate the devotion of the Eucharistic adoration. Furthermore, because he was closely linked with the Franciscan Order, Yves surely knew “Letter to the Faithful” of Saint Francis of Assisi, which is where he testifies about the importance of the Eucharist in his personal life. Moreover, it is to Saint Thomas Aquinas that the Pope trusted to write the liturgical texts for this celebration: all the liturgical pieces of the feast are considered composed by him, including the Tantum Ergo and the Adorote Devote. And it is almost certain that, when he studied in Paris, Yves Hélory de Kermartin was the pupil of the “Angelic Doctor”, as the Catholic Tradition called him because of his theological writings about the celestial creatures, for the latter taught there between 1268 and 1272. Saint Thomas’ personal intense devotion towards the Eucharist that he celebrated every day, crying according to witnesses, as well as his exceptionally pedagogical teaching about it deeply impressed the young Briton and influenced his own spirituality.

For, at last, here is the most important link between Saint Yves and the Corpus Christi feast: his personal devotion towards this great mystery (to follow).

Talking about Saint Yves’ devotion towards the Eucharist, there are many testimonials. It was already said that, when he had to judge or plead a case, he often celebrated the Holy Spirit mass in order to get from Him the Divine Wisdom and, if possible, the reconciliation between litigants, which occurred many times, actually. 

Various witnesses testified: “he devotedly celebrated mass every day, in his chapel of Kermartin, except when he was ill or exhausted”. By the way, during the process of canonization, Lord Yves was said to seize more than one hundred times the opportunity of being hosted in manors when travelling to celebrate mass there, probably because there generally was at least an oratory and sometimes a chapel.

He shared this characteristic with Saint Thomas Aquinas and it was not common in that period of time. Moreover, like him, he “wept profusely after the elevation of the Body of Christ. In the same way, he often sighed and moaned when he wanted to preach.” Another witness added that he saw him cry also “at the beginning of mass, while praying the Confiteor, and after the washing of the hands, while going back at the altar to pray the Eucharist prayer.” Effectively, that is one of the most moving characteristics of Saints: they feel themselves as greater sinners than those who are not saints and should experience much more their guilt.

Talking about Saint Yves’ devotion towards the Eucharist, there are many testimonials. It was already said that, when he had to judge or plead a case, he often celebrated the Holy Spirit mass in order to get from Him the Divine Wisdom and, if possible, the reconciliation between litigants, which occurred many times, actually. 

Various witnesses testified: “he devotedly celebrated mass everyday, in his chapel of Kermartin, except when he was ill or exhausted”. By the way, during the process of canonization, Lord Yves was said to seize more than one hundred times the opportunity of being hosted in manors when travelling to celebrate mass there, probably because there generally was at least an oratory and sometimes a chapel.

He shared this characteristic with Saint Thomas Aquinas and it was not common in that period of time. Moreover, like him, he “wept profusely after the elevation of the Body of Christ. In the same way, he often sighed and moaned when he wanted to preach.” Another witness added that he saw him cry also “at the beginning of mass, while praying the Confiteor, and after the washing of the hands, while going back at the altar to pray the Eucharist prayer.” Effectively, that is one of the most moving characteristics of Saints: they feel themselves as greater sinners than those who are not saints and should experience much more their guilt.

The famous sawdust carpets and colored sand

in several Brazilian cities where the procession moves.