Heortology : $b A history of the Christian festivals from their origin to the present dayKellner, K. A. Heinrich (Karl Adam Heinrich)
Religion
Heortology : $b A history of the Christian festivals from their origin to the present day
Kellner, K. A. Heinrich (Karl Adam Heinrich)
Church year; Fasts and feasts
On Maundy Thursday, the consecration of the Holy Oils and other
ceremonies overshadow almost entirely the commemoration of the important
event which took place on that day—the institution of the Holy Eucharist.
It was this fact which suggested the introduction of a festival specially
intended to commemorate that event, as is expressly stated in the papal
constitution _Transiturus_. The introduction of this feast dates from
a comparatively late time, and its adoption is limited to the West,
although the Uniat Greeks have also partially accepted it. The earliest
trace of a special reference to the Holy Sacrament of the altar in the
public worship of the Church is probably the appearance of the name
_Natalis Calicis_, in the Calendar of Polemius Silvius, on the 24th
March. In order to understand this entry, it must be remembered that
anciently the 25th March was often regarded as the day on which Christ
died (_vide ante_, p. 57).
Divine Providence made use of a humble nun to further the introduction of
this festival. Juliana,[273] born at Retinne, near Liège, in 1193, was
received as an orphan into the cloister, and became a nun of the order
of St Augustine. She was appointed prioress of the lazar-house of _Mons
Cornelii_ (Mont-Cornillon), near Liège, where she passed the greater
part of her life. When this institution received another prior who fell
out with the authorities of Liège over some matters of administration,
Juliana was obliged to leave the lazar-house in 1240. She took up her
abode in Liège, with a kindred spirit, the recluse Eve. She returned to
Mont-Cornillon after three years, but when fresh disagreements broke
out again, on the death of Bishop Robert († 1246), she was compelled to
leave Liège altogether. She found a refuge with the Cistercian nuns at
Salsinnes in the diocese of Namur. But this convent was destroyed in
the wars which then disturbed the country, and Juliana was once more
destitute. She ended her life on the 5th April 1258, as a recluse at
Fosses, where she had found a refuge, and was buried in the monastery of
Villiers, in the diocese of Namur.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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