Annual London Corpus Christi Procession
The Order once again took a leading part in the annual Corpus Christi procession through central London, on Sunday 7th June.
The procession brings together three parishes, our Order, other religious orders and equestrian orders, and the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, in a great act of witness to Our Eucharistic Lord, truly and substantially present in our midst in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
The celebration started with a solemn pontifical Mass of Corpus Christi at the diocesan shrine of the Belssed Sacrament, the church of Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane. Mass was celebrated by Bishop Paul Mason, the Bishop of the Forces, responsible for the pastoral care of those who serve in the British Armed Forces. He preached beautifully on the power the words of Christ, the Logos:
When we eat the flesh and the blood of the Son of Man, we take on his divine life. We take it on in a way which makes us roll up our sleeves and live out our vocation side by side with him.
With a resounding fanfare from a brass quintet, the procession then set off at 12:30pm from Maiden Lane, the Blessed Sacrament carried by the rector of the shrine, Fr Alan Robinson, beneath the glorious embroidered canopy, created for this annual procession by our Order, the eight poles of which were carried by four knights of our Order, and four members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre in their distinctive white mantles.
The procession, hundreds upon hundreds of Faithful following behind their Good Shepherd, led by Bishop Mason, wound its way through Covent Garden to Cambridge Circus, down Shaftesbury Avenue to Piccadilly Circus, and thence to the church of Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory, Warwick Street, where Fr Robinson gave Benediction, before the Sacrament was exposed on a high throne for two hours of adoration.
At 3:30pm, the rector of Warwick Street took up the monstrance and carried Our Lord back into the streets, up Regent Street, through Berkeley Square, to the Ukrainian Cathedral at Duke Street, where all paused to pray for the people of Ukraine and for peace, led by Bishop Kenneth Nowalski, who also gave Benediction.
Bishop Nowalski joined Bishop Mason following the Blessed Sacrament, one of the hundreds who joined upon the route, so that, as the procession entered its final stage travelling towards St James’s Spanish Place, some two thousand of the faithful thronged the streets. Mgr Whitmore, rector of St James’s, carried the monstrance into his beautiful Gothic church, where Our Lord was greeting by the strains of Mendelssohn’s glorious setting of the opening lines of the sequence of the feast, Lauda Sion Salvatorem, sung by the peerless choir of St James’s.
Finally, after all had recited together the Prayer for England, Bishop Mason gave pontifical benediction to conclude the day’s festivities.
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar!
All images © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk
You can see more photographs of this wonderful occasion here. And a video here.