Every year, sixty days after Easter, the Church celebrates “Corpus Domini”: a religious solemnity in honour of the Eucharist (the ‘body’ – corpus – of Christ in the sacramental sign of bread): an observance that first developed in Italy the thirteenth century and in 1263 was extended by Pope Urban IV to all of Christian Europe.
In Barga as elsewhere, from that period the feast has been celebrated in solemn fashion, with a majestic candlelit procession in which the Eucharistic bread is borne through the city streets in a glass container know as a ‘monstrance’, which allows people to see the consecrated bread wafer. Petals are arranged in patterns, quite often featuring hearts, on the streets the procession will pass through on its way up to the Duomo
Don Cola, the priest of Tiglio for well over 50 years had a busy day yesterday which began probably well before he served mass at our small chapel. The chapel on our property, was built in 1944 and restored with his help and blessing in 2005, and he celebrates mass there every year on Corpus Domini. After the service attended by several dozen of his Tiglio, Ferriera and Piastroso parishioners a long and sumptuous lunch was served at a nearby property. The Tiglio parishioners then prepared to participate in the procession from another small chapel maintained by Don Cola at Pegnana. It was a long and full day for the long serving Priest of Tiglio.