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June 13, 2023The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, was celebrated this year on June 11 in parishes across the Diocese of Tucson.
This is the day that we honor the True Presence of Jesus Christ under the appearance of bread and wine. At the Consecration of the Mass, this bread and wine are changed into Jesus’ real Body and Blood through transubstantiation. It’s widely considered one of the greatest mysteries of the Church.
Catholic churches around the world celebrate Corpus Christi with grand processions of the most Holy Sacrament.
At St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Sierra Vista, it is one of the parish’s largest and most anticipated events of the year.
Children in the Vacation Bible School made chalk drawings on the sidewalk route of the Procession, while youth from the Life Teen program carried the Processional banners.
This year, Father Samuel Jandeh, who is from Nigeria, carried the Blessed Sacrament under a 100-year-old Processional canopy, acquired from the Benedictine Sisters after the closing of their Chapel of Perpetual Adoration in Tucson.
In addition to the Clergy, Knights of Columbus Honor Guard, the Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity, members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Legion of Mary, the First Communicants, and representatives of the various apostolates and ministries active in the Parish, the parishioners were invited to wear their own national dress or costume. Traditional attire from Korea, Vietnam, Mexico, Columbia, Germany, Scotland, Guam, and Fiji, were proudly worn in the Procession, a visual proclamation of “Christ for the whole world!”
The participants joined with the Choirs in hymns as the Procession made its way around the block to the Divine Mercy Chapel of the church for Adoration and Benediction.
View photos from last year's processions