Corpus Christi Festival — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Corpus Christi Festival, the most splendid festival of the Roman Catholic Church. It was instituted in 1264 (see BOLSENA), in honour of the Consecrated Host and with a view to its adoration, by Pope Urban IV., who appointed for its celebration the Thursday after the festival of the Trinity, and promised to all the penitent who took part in it indulgence for a period of from forty to one hundred days. The festival is chiefly distinguished by magnificent processions. In France it is known as the Fête Dieu; in Germany, as the Fronleichnamsfest.