Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi

The Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi,  the second Sunday after Pentecost, is of semi-double rite and its liturgical colour is white, the colour of the feast and Octave.

At Vespers yesterday afternoon the antiphons and psalms of the feast of Corpus Christi, Sacerdos in aeternum etc, were sung, not doubled, with psalms 109, 110, 115, 127 & 147. The chapter was of the Sunday, the Office hymn, Pange, lingua, as on the feast. The antiphon on the Magnificat and collect were of the Sunday. After the collect of the Sunday commemorations were sung of the Octave, of St. Norbert and of St. Boniface. The Suffrage was omitted due to the double feasts and being within an Octave.  At Compline Te lucis was sung with the melody and Doxology of the Incarnation, Jesu tibi sit gloria, Qui natus es de Virgine, Cum Patre et almo Spiritu, In sempiterna saecula. The Dominical preces were omitted.

At Mattins the invitatory is Christum Regem adoremus dominantem Gentibus: Qui se manducantibus dat spiritus pinguedinem. The Office hymn is Sacris solemnis. The antiphons and psalms are as on the feast of Corpus Christi but the antiphons are not doubled.  The lessons are proper to the Sunday. In the first nocturn these are taken from the First Book of Kings. In the second nocturn they are taken from a sermon of St. Chrysostom to the people of Antioch and the homily in the third nocturn is from St. Gregory on St. Luke's Gospel. The Te Deum is sung. At Lauds the antiphons are those sung on the feast of Corpus Christi, Sapientia etc but they are not doubled. The chapter is of the Sunday, the Office hymn is Verbum supernum prodiens as on the feast. The antiphon on the Benedictus and collect are of the Sunday. After the collect of the Sunday commemorations are sung of the Octave and St. Norbert. The Suffrage is omitted.

At the Little Hours the hymns are sung to the same tone as on the feast of the Nativity of the LORD (there of course being a deep link between the Incarnation and Corpus Christi) with the Doxology Jesu tibi sit gloria etc. At Prime the festal psalms are sung (Pss. 53, 118i & 118ii), the versicle in the short responsory is Qui natus es for the feast and Octave, the short lesson is Filioli mei, of the Sunday.

Mass is sung after Terce. The Gloria is sung, the second collect is of the Octave, the third collect is of St. Basil. The Creed is sung and the preface is of the Nativity.

In Collegiate and Cathedral Churches a Mass of the feast of Corpus Christi is sung after None with Gloria, the second collect of the Sunday, the Sequence Lauda Sion, Creed, preface of the Nativity and last Gospel of the Sunday. After this a Procession is made as on the feast. Likewise in those countries where the External Solemnity of Corpus Christi is observed on the Sunday following the feast Masses are of the feast with a commemoration of the Sunday. Indeed for a few years in the second decade of the twentieth century Corpus Christi ceased to be a holy day and its external solemnity observed on the second Sunday after Pentecost by a motu proprio of Pius X, De Diebus festis (AAS 3, 1911, pp.305-306).

(Second section of the motu proprio: Note also the moving to Sundays of St. Joseph's March feast and the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist)

In the first edition of 'The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described'  Dr Adrian Fortescue notes that Corpus Christi is no longer a holy day.

Inserted into the book after its printing (1918) is a corrigendum slip indicating that recent changes had reversed the 1911 decree and that Corpus Christi was restored as a holy day.

At Vespers the antiphons Sacerdos in aeternum etc, are sung, not doubled, with psalms 109, 110, 115, 127 & 147. The chapter is of the Sunday and the Office hymn is Pange, lingua. After the collect of the Sunday commemorations are sung of the Octave and of St. Norbert. The Suffrage is omitted as are the Dominical preces at Compline.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' Sunday within the Octave of Corpus Christi, and the Octave itself, have been abolished. The second Sunday after Pentecost is celebrated as a 'green' Sunday. There are no commemorations at Vespers. Mattins is stripped down to a single of three lessons with the invitatory and antiphons of the Sunday. At Lauds there are no commemorations. At Mass there is a single collect. At Vespers there are no commemorations.

Art: Jerome Nadal