April 5 Juliana of Mount Cornillon b. 1112 d. 1258 Corpus Christi

Thommy and John

good morning
i love you

in this renewed era of Eucharistic Congresses it might seem quaint to remember the person most responsible for the establishing of the Feast of Corpus Christi. i remember Benediction [and tamtum ergo! or, from snow white, Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to work we go.... that'd be a story from grandma about me.... we were at benediction only a day or so after seeing snow white. the priest, as the organ ramped up the tantum ergo, encouraged all to sing with enthusiasm. well, i sung with enthusiasm! my mother started to hush my Hi Ho as the other children joined in the popular refrain - yes, it was common for lots of children to be at benediction with their mother. well the priest had asked for enthusiastic singing, he got it, he apparently liked it as he overrode the mothers's efforts to hush the children. sing praise does not mean it has to be tantum ergo or gregorian chant.... :) ] and i remember worship at the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. both common occurences/opportunities through my college years. that waned in our practice - stll not common in these here parts, or any of the places i've been in many years.

Juliana. we don't get her family name. i wonder why? she had parents. even orphaned at age five, someone took care enough of her to have her placed in the hands of the Augustinian monastery at Mount Cornillon. The nuns at this dual monastery took care of the sick, especially the lepers. Juliana and her sister Agnes were sent to a dependent farm for nurturing, turtoring, and safety. Agnes died young. Julian grew up studious with an intense devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

how do you figure such a devotion evolves and comes to fruition in a 13th c. child? might we want to recreate such development in our chldren today? with the sisters, Juliana probably participated in daily prayer times, probably in the chapel; in the presence, the real as well as spiritual and communal presence of Jesus. The Blessed Sacrament; He's really, truly, bodily present to her. to us. awesome phenomenon; experience! letting ourselves experience the Real Presence - it takes getting to the church; especially to Mass and our other liturgical services. immersing ourselves in the rites and rituals.... skipping those, being takien away from their routine presentation, letting them fade from our personal practice - one cost of the absence of pater materque. ..... the Mass of my chhildhood was in Latin, with the priest facing the altar which was against the wall; thus his back to the rest of us. the ringing of the bells at the consecration; the raising of the Host and Chalice above his head - it was high ceremony. and for benediction and the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament there was the golden, elaborate monstrance. .... such ceremony can capture the imagination, all the senses of the child [incense and all... the church smelled like a church. each Sunday we had high mass which had incense. all the time the candles were burning from many racks around the nave.] falling into a devotion of the Blessed Sacrament, responding to one's Grace and the invitation to come and devote oneself to Jesus qua Blessed Sacrament.... i can see it. can you imagine it?

In addition to her developing devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, Juliana poured over the books of Aquinas and Bernard and the other church fathers whose volumes were there on the monasteries book shelves. a learned woman!

Juliana, starting when she was sixteen, had a vision of the moon shining brightly on her, day and night; the moon with a dark band across it. day and night, haunted by this vision. an effort by the devil to distract her from prayer? a sign from God about something? .... go figure? how do you explain it? must have scared the heebi jeebies out of her? and how must her spiritual advisor handled it - so many personal spiritual experiences and to best understand them, put them in context, find the wisdom to embrace them, it is best to have a spiritual advisor. not any ole person but one steeped in faith and with the training and experience to guide others in their discernment..... Juliana came to seen this vision as the moon's being our Church Calendar and the band an missing feast day, ... specifically a day to honor the Blessed Sacrament.

what does Juliana do with such a vision and insight? a woman. in 13th c france. This vocation, to create this feast, permeated her life: a life of an ordinary nun in a monastery.... until she became prioress in 1225. and she spoke more openly and widely about her vision and the importance of creating a Church feast to the Blessed Sacrament. Eva, a holy woman, recluse, across the river (herself Blessed); and Isabel of Huy, a woman Juliania accepted into the community; then to John of Lousanne, canon of St Martin's church nearby. John consulted various thologians about the propriety of such a feast - one theologian, James Pantaleon became Urban IV. They found no theological reason not to have such a feast.

however, opposition arose to creating such a feast and to Juliana personally - one way to beat down a seminal idea is to beat up on the messenger. like you. you carry the seeds of baptism and confirmation - not only is your faith and religion beaten down all around you, you are personally impinged upon to stop acting like a Catholic and be like the rest of the people in your immediate vacinity..... in Juliana's situation, the religious was, as usual in that era and place, mingled with the secular - the running of the hosptial and property and charity funds (money, jobs, power). and with the personal standing of Juliana went the rise and fall of the possibility of the creation of the feast for honoring the Blessed Sacrament. she won some and she lost some. and she persisted! Her vocation was clear to her; Juliana's resolve, the strength of her grace, the support of prayers as well as some powerful people in the church and her own community helped her persist. [discern your vocation and be tenacious. build that tenacity by prayer and closeness with God; build that tenacity by bonding with family and friends, those who believe like we do and who authentically support your vocation for you and the greater glory of God. build that tenacity by joining within the church others with both simialr vocation and the desire to support such vocations. never alone. always with - God, family, church.

Juliana, with a few companions, were buffered from pillar to post - expelled from Cornillon, living on alms, finally being taken in by an abbess [who also got from Cornillon the remaining dowry that Juliana brought to that monastery.]. from this new safe place, Juliana espoused her cause. until she died in 1258, without seeing her efforts bring about the desired feast. still, because she pursued her vocation not alone but with God and family and friends and Church....

Eva carried on the effort. The bishop os Liege supported the feast. James Pantaleon Pope Urban IV and the rest, as they say, is history. Thomas Aquinas composed the ofice for the feast of Corpus Christi.

Juliana's story is inspirational.

a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament supports our faith.

connect to both....

i love you
dad