‘One Body and one Lord above’
CHARLOTTE — With monstrances raised high, thousands of parishioners reverently processed across roads, paths and campuses throughout the Diocese of Charlotte on Corpus Christi Sunday.
The Feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, celebrates the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist – His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Many parishes have unique traditions for commemorating this feast, which has been celebrated by Catholics worldwide since 1264. Through intricate sawdust carpets depicting images of chalices and hosts, altars adorned with roses and garnished with bread and grapes, and streets draped with patterns created using flower petals, the beauty of our Eucharistic faith was creatively displayed through diverse cultures, all gathered as one Church.
“This celebration reminds us how we are one in Christ, one beautiful community under one God,” said Flora Lester, music director at Sacred Heart Parish in Salisbury. "When we are walking together, praying together, singing together, proclaiming the Gospel together, and we are shoulder-to-shoulder, it is very beautiful and powerful.”
After Mass, the sun was bright, but the Son was brighter as golden rays from monstrances reflected the magnificence of the Blessed Sacrament as priests and people proudly processed through local streets.
Parishioners at Sacred Heart and at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Franklin used the early morning hours of Sunday to prepare their procession routes with painted sawdust carpets, a tradition that originates in Guatemala.
For the Franklin parish, the Corpus Christi carpets continue a nearly 20-year tradition, while the devotional art is relatively new to the Salisbury parish. Using dyed wood dust to fill in stenciled templates of designs, parishioners transformed the procession path into stunning work of art featuring various liturgical themes.
Esperanza Vargas, coordinator of St. Francis of Assisi’s Hispanic Ministry, said preparations began weeks in advance, when, after collecting sawdust donated by a local sawmill, volunteers dyed it in various colors.
“This year we managed to create nearly 30 carpets covering the entire route of the procession,” Vargas said.
Reflecting on the importance of the solemnity, Deacon Sigfrido della Valle, Hispanic Ministry coordinator for the Smoky Mountains Vicariate, noted that this celebration, along with that of the Feast of the Holy Trinity on the previous Sunday, “are the two greatest mysteries of the Church.”
The Eucharist, he added, “is one of the most beautiful graces in life.”
At Sacred Heart, there were two carpets, one at the beginning of the route and one garnishing the altar in the middle. The children of the parish came up with the design concepts, while lead artist and parishioner of 20 years, Vilvia Sandoval, spent most of her day meticulously lining the street with colored sawdust with her team. She learned how to create the carpets while growing up in Guatemala.
Father John Eckert thought all the hard work ended in a beautiful procession. “What a great opportunity for us to take this great gift of the Blessed Sacrament out to the world and sing in such a joyful way,” he said.
Our Lady of the Highways Parish in Thomasville celebrated Corpus Christi with a procession and festival. After noon Mass, hundreds took part in a procession of the Blessed Sacrament around the church grounds, which ended with a blessing given by Father Gabriel Carvajal-Salazar. The festival offered a space for fellowship, featuring food stands with Salvadoran and Mexican cuisine. The celebration included horseback rides and live musical performances.
St. Leo the Great in Winston-Salem celebrated European style. Parishioner Catherine Riley spent hours collecting flowers from parishioners, neighbors, and local grocers to build a floral pathway called “infiorata” between the church and the school.
Riley gathered five pillowcases full of magnolia leaves, three pillowcases of hydrangea petals, and 20 buckets of assorted flowers and leaves to create the floral decoration which also included, coffee grinds, and sand.
Riley’s family is from the Azore Islands of Portugal, and her father, Stephen Coelho, traveled from California to help with the intricate process. He framed out the mosaic design into which flower petals were later placed to make the image.
Riley, assisted by a team of parishioners, laid down the 112-foot floral carpet in under two hours. Parishioner Mary Margaret Yodzis, who spent weeks planning the events, said the first-time effort was deeply meaningful.
"Everyone loved it. Someone from our Polish community cried when she saw it, because it brought back childhood memories of Corpus Christi celebrations in her hometown in Poland," said Yodzis.
Yodzis said magnolia leaves, hydrangea, and roses made up most of the design at St. Leo, because they are offerings from Carolina gardens in June.
“We used the flowers Our Lord provided from our little corner of the world to make something beautiful for Him," Yodzis said. "It's ephemeral, because we trample it and then discard it, but the pathway holds many lessons for the makers and the people who walk over it about living in the present moment, sacrificing what we have to honor the Lord, and letting go when God calls us forward. We are looking forward to enlarging and enhancing it next year."
After each procession passed, the hours of work and weeks of planning were ceremoniously swept away, if not already destroyed by small, curious hands.
Vargas said this doesn’t bring sadness. “For us, it is an offering to the Blessed Sacrament, and we are happy to give this service.”
— Lisa Geraci and César Hurtado. Photos by César Hurtado, Troy C. Hull, Lisa Geraci, Amy Burger, Paul Doizé, Amber Melon and provided
