Its origins date back to the thirteenth century, when Saint Juliana of Cornillon promoted the idea of establishing a feast to honor the Body and Blood of Christ. It was first celebrated in Liège (Belgium) in 1246. The feast became universal in 1264 when Pope Urban IV officially instituted it and commissioned Saint Thomas Aquinas to compose immortal hymns for the liturgy, such as the Pange Lingua, Lauda Sion, and Panis Angelicus (Bull Transiturus de hoc mundo, Pope Urban IV, 1264).
In the spirituality of the Vincentian Family, this Eucharistic mystery holds a foundational place. Saint Vincent de Paul understood the Eucharist as the greatest example that divine love is “infinitely inventive” (Exhortation to a Dying Brother, 1647; Correspondence, Conferences, Documents, XI, 65–66). So as not to leave us alone and to prevent our hearts from growing cold, Jesus instituted this august sacrament, humbling himself to become our nourishment and to achieve a perfect and continual spiritual union with us (Exhortation to a Dying Brother, 1647; Correspondence, Conferences, Documents, XI, 65–66).
For Vincentians, however, approaching the altar is only the indispensable starting point for going out to meet the poor. One cannot receive the Christ of the Eucharist while rejecting the Christ present in the poor, for faith teaches us that He dwells in both. As the Congregation’s own tradition reminds us, “whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20).
The Eucharistic celebration calls us to rise from the table and become ourselves the “Body of Christ” in service to those on the margins. Saint Vincent taught that the true fruit of Holy Communion is verified in active charity:
“Oh! What a beautiful observation: a person who has made a good Communion does everything well! […]She will serve the sick with the charity of Jesus Christ; she will have in her conversation the gentleness of Jesus Christ; in her trials, the patience of Jesus Christ; and the obedience of Jesus Christ. In a word, my daughters, all her actions will no longer be the actions of a mere creature; they will be the actions of Jesus Christ.” (Conference to the Daughters of Charity, August 18, 1647; CCD, IX, 309).
This call to make the Eucharist a driving force for justice and charity resonates powerfully with the message of Pope Leo XIV. In his homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, delivered on June 22, 2025, in Saint John Lateran Square, the Holy Father reminded us that Jesus always responds to need through the sign of sharing. Reflecting on today’s reality, the Pope posed a strong social challenge:
“Today, in place of the crowds we encounter in the Gospel, there are entire peoples, humiliated by the greed of others even more than by hunger itself. Faced with the misery of many, the accumulation of wealth by a few is a sign of indifferent pride that produces suffering and injustice.” (Homily of Pope Leo XIV for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, June 22, 2025).
Confronted with the opulence that wastes the fruits of the earth, the Holy Father points us toward the path that makes our Eucharistic experience authentic:
“Especially in this Jubilee Year, the example of the Lord remains for us an urgent criterion for action and service: sharing bread in order to multiply hope proclaims the coming of the Kingdom of God.” (Homily of Pope Leo XIV for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, June 22, 2025).
May we renew our vocation to service on this Feast of Corpus Christi. Strengthened by the nourishment God gives us, let us resolve to bring that closeness and hope to the peripheries, demonstrating through our actions that our faith passes, in a living and real way, from the Table of the Altar to the Table of the Poor.
