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Poland celebrates Corpus Christi with street processions, honoring ‘living God’

19.06.2025 14:00
Polish Catholics marched through city streets and village lanes on Thursday, carrying the Eucharist to four temporary altars in a centuries-old Corpus Christi tradition held 60 days after Easter.
A Corpus Christi march in the Polish city of Wrocław.
A Corpus Christi march in the Polish city of Wrocław.Photo: PAP/Marian Zubrzycki

Fr Krystian Sacharczuk of Warsaw’s St Anne academic church called the feast “a living reminder of the Last Supper, when Jesus instituted the Eucharist and priesthood. We don’t parade a piece of bread; we carry the real, living God.”

He said the outdoor rites are also “a public witness to what matters most”, urging believers to join “with a certain pride”.

Corpus Christi was first celebrated in Liège, Belgium, in 1246 and became a universal Western-Church feast in 1317.

Kraków Bishop Nanker introduced it to Poland at a 1320 synod, and it has remained one of the country’s largest religious events.

(jh)

Source: IAR