The celebration of the Solemnity of the Blessed Body and Blood of Christ in St. Clement Hofbauer Parish in Warsaw, took place on Tuesday – 11 June 2020. The 200th anniversary of St. Clement’s death marked the way the traditional four procession altars were designed.
In his homily, Pastor Damian Simonicz CSsR stressed the role of faith in experiencing the encounter with Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament. At the end of the solemn Mass, there was a procession to four altars located inside the church and in the surrounding square.
The customary altars were designed and decorated in a special way to underline the 200th anniversary of St. Clement’s passing from this world. The slogans of the altars, apart from the traditional ones, were: “Clement who believed in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament”, “Clement, God’s teacher”, “Clement, father for the poor” and “Clement, faithful devotee of Mary”. The altars were prepared by the Knights of Columbus under the guidance of Father Andrzej Kukla CSsR.
A special element of each altar was bread, symbolizing the feast of Corpus Christi, as well as the figure of “God’s Baker”, the patron saint of the Warsaw parish.
The loaves of bread, which after the feast were distributed to the participants of the liturgy, were donated by the “Warsaw Bakery and Confectionery Cooperative” and one of the parish families. The musical setting was created by the Sonus Innumerabilis choir operating at the parish. During the procession, he performed “Responsory to four altars” by Fr Eugeniusz Gruberski, composed over 120 years ago.
The Corpus Christi celebration gathered numerous residents of Warsaw’s Wola district, who by their presence testified to their faith in Jesus hidden in the Blessed Sacrament.
Fr. Łukasz Baran CSsR
courtesy of redemptor.pl