A Corpus Christi Celebration for the Ages

Fr. Nerinckx and Fr. Badin led a spectacular procession though the Kentucky Holy Land

The words of the Rev. Charles Nerinckx in the Year of Our Lord 1807

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"But I must tell you all about our procession on the octave of Corpus Christi of this year.

It is the third one we had at Holy Cross church within a year and a half; I have it regularly in my own congregation.

Holy Cross church, the birthplace of the Catholic Church in Kentucky

Three men on horseback opened the march, the middle one carrying a silk flag surmounted by a large cross, the two others holding huge green boughs in their hands. Another man in the dress of an acolyte followed them with the processional cross, heading the double row of people, consisting of boys, girls, and grown‑up people, marching two and two, carrying green branches instead of torches, and forming a line of march three miles long; many non-catholics were present.

At distances of twenty paces a leader marched in the middle of the lines, saying the holy Rosary, which all answered aloud. The canopy, which I had made myself, was held aloft by four men, and immediately behind the Blessed Sacrament followed fourteen armed men, led by a uniformed sergeant. Three other men on horseback, also uniformed, with drawn swords, brought up the rear, and held back the surging crowd following and saying the beads.

Choirs of men and women sung alternately hymns in honor of the Blessed Eucharist, until we arrived at the residence of the Trappists, where a repository altar had been erected.

Rev. Badin, assisted by two Dominicans, officiated, and I acted as master of ceremonies; a squad of horsemen acting as marshals saw that every thing proceeded in an orderly manner, and every thing passed off with more decorum and piety than the most enthusiastic had dared anticipate.

Our rites and ceremonies exert a powerful influence upon sectarians, many of whom are favorably impressed by them, and are led to investigate the claims of the catholic church on their allegiance, and are led into its fold…”

An old monstrance. Photo taken at the Bishop Flaget Log House.