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The Corpus Christi festival or more popularly the ‘Fête-Dieu’ springs from Maundy Thursday (Jeudi Saint) which falls in the Holy Week and is the fourth day after Palm Sunday. It was on
the night of this Thursday that Jesus took his last supper with his disciples.
Jesus took the ritual food of the Passover —commemorating the liberation of Israel. At the same time he gave a new meaning to that feast as the jewish
people had been led by God from their slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea and the long march in the desert into a land of freedom.
Jesus now invites his people to go from the slavery of selfishness and sinfulness into the freedom of the love of God and their neighbour. He thus
institutes a new passover commemorated by the Holy Week and Pascal Feast.
In this supper of Maundy Thursday, he gives the consecrated food, Holy Communion — the Eucharist —, to his disciples. Christians believe that Jesus is
really present in this Holy food, consecrated during each mass, and that, in consuming it, they enter into communion with him and participate in his strength.
The festival which gives the opportunity to Roman Catholics to worship and honour the real presence of Jesus Christ in the holy host is usually celebrated in June on the Thursday
following Trinity Sunday. The procession is made up of the celebrant carrying the monstrance containing the holy host, surrounded by choir boys and girls followed by successive corteges, headed by a banner-bearer,
from church organizations, these being followed by the praying or chanting crowd. In Mauritius, especially in Port-Louis, the procession of the Fête Dieu gained momentum as from 1847, when Bishop Collier assisted by
Father Laval gave it greater solemnity and an evergrowing popularity. Although Corpus Christi processions take place in all parishes, that of Saint-Louis Cathedral surpasses them all in importance: it leaves the
cathedral in Port-Louis, unfolds through neighbouring streets and makes its way to the Champ-de-Mars where a temporary altar has been erected.
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