(Buffalo News – 06/19/06 – LAUREN PAUER) With incense burning and the sun shining, they chanted. Most switched easily from English to Polish. Some wore traditional Polish dresses. All were there to honor the church and the tradition.
More than 200 Catholics celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi on Sunday with Mass and a four-block procession from Corpus Christi Church to St. Stanislaus Church on Buffalo’s East Side.
The feast honors the Eucharist, and though the day is internationally revered, the processional ceremony is a uniquely Polish tradition, according to Rev. Matt Nycz of the Most Precious Blood Church in Angola, who participated in the event.
The feast dates to the 13th century, when the Catholic Church in Poland wanted to strengthen people’s belief in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, according to Nycz. “Corpus Christi” translates to “the body of Christ.”
Much of the crowd was older, but the day was clearly a family affair.
