Corpus Christi 2027: Date, Meaning, Procession and Hymns

Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, celebrates Jesus truly present in the Eucharist. In the universal calendar it falls on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, May 27, 2027; in the United States and many other countries it is moved to the following Sunday, May 30, 2027. Many parishes end the Mass with a Eucharistic procession through the streets.

Below: the meaning of the feast, its history and St. Thomas Aquinas, the readings, the procession and the great Eucharistic hymns.

Corpus Christi 2027 at a glance


Universal date	Thursday, May 27, 2027
United States	Sunday, May 30, 2027
Color	White
Readings (Year B)	Exodus 24:3–8; Psalm 116; Hebrews 9:11–15; Mark 14:12–16, 22–26
Sequence (optional)	Lauda Sion
Next	The Sacred Heart, Friday, June 4, 2027

What Corpus Christi celebrates

On Holy Thursday the Church remembers the institution of the Eucharist, but in the shadow of the Passion. Corpus Christi lets her celebrate the gift of the Eucharist with festive joy. Catholics believe that in the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ… is truly, really, and substantially contained.” In 2027 the Gospel is Mark’s account of the Last Supper:

And whilst they were eating, Jesus took bread; and blessing, broke, and gave to them, and said: Take ye. This is my body.
And having taken the chalice, giving thanks, he gave it to them. And they all drank of it.
And he said to them: This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many.

Jesus had promised it at Capernaum:

Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him.
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever.

In the first reading, Moses seals the covenant with blood, a figure of the new covenant in Christ’s blood:

And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.

History of the feast

The feast began with St. Juliana of Liège (Mont-Cornillon, Belgium), a nun who from 1209 had visions asking for a feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. The bishop of Liège introduced it in 1246. In 1264 Pope Urban IV, who had known Juliana, extended it to the whole Church with the bull Transiturus, after the Eucharistic miracle of Bolsena. He asked St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the Mass and Office for the feast; Thomas wrote the hymns Pange lingua, Sacris solemniis, Verbum supernum and the sequence Lauda Sion, still sung today.

The Eucharistic procession

After Mass, the priest carries the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance under a canopy, accompanied by candles, incense, flowers and hymns, through the church grounds or the streets. Children who have recently made their First Communion often walk in white and scatter petals. The procession ends with Benediction. The procession is a public act of faith: Christ walks among his people as he did in Galilee.

Hymns of Corpus Christi

Pange lingua (Sing, my tongue)

The Latin text and an old English translation are on our Holy Thursday page. Its last two verses form the Tantum Ergo, sung at every Benediction.

Adoro te devote

St. Thomas’s private prayer of adoration, in Latin:

Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,
Quae sub his figuris vere latitas:
Tibi se cor meum totum subiicit,
Quia te contemplans totum deficit.
Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur.
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius:
Nil hoc verbo Veritatis verius.
In cruce latebat sola Deitas,
At hic latet simul et humanitas;
Ambo tamen credens atque confitens,
Peto quod petivit latro paenitens.
Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor;
Deum tamen meum te confiteor.
Fac me tibi semper magis credere,
In te spem habere, te diligere.
O memoriale mortis Domini!
Panis vivus, vitam praestans homini!
Praesta meae menti de te vivere
Et te illi semper dulce sapere.
Pie pellicane, Iesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo sanguine.
Cuius una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.
Iesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,
Oro fiat illud quod tam sitio;
Ut te revelata cernens facie,
Visu sim beatus tuae gloriae.
Amen

A prayer for Corpus Christi

Written for this page:

Lord Jesus Christ, truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
I adore you, I thank you and I love you.
You give yourself to us as food for the journey.
Make me worthy to receive you,
faithful in visiting you,
and generous in sharing your love with the hungry and the poor. Amen.

For more, see our Eucharistic adoration prayers and prayers before Communion.

Frequently asked questions

When is Corpus Christi 2027?

Thursday, May 27, 2027 in the universal calendar; Sunday, May 30, 2027 in the United States. In 2028 it is June 15 (Thursday) or June 18 (Sunday).

Is Corpus Christi a holy day of obligation?

In the universal law of the Church, yes (canon 1246). In the United States and other countries where it is transferred to Sunday, the Sunday Mass fulfills the obligation.

What does Corpus Christi mean?

Latin for “Body of Christ.” The full name today is “The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.”

Why is there a procession?

To honor Christ in the Eucharist publicly and to bring his blessing to the streets and homes of the parish.

More Eucharistic pages

Texts and sources

Scripture: Mark 14:22–24; John 6:54–59; Exodus 24:8, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain. Reading references follow the Lectionary for Mass, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year B.
Adoro te devote, Latin: Latin Wikisource.
Council of Trent, Session XIII (1551), canon 1, on the Real Presence; Urban IV, bull Transiturus de hoc mundo (1264).
The prayer was written for this page.