Corpus Christi, a Latin expression meaning “Body of Christ”, is the name of a celebration established by the Catholic Church in 1264 to commemorate the Eucharist.
The celebration of Corpus Christi takes place this Thursday (04). THE date is celebrated exactly 60 days after Easter, another Catholic festival. As the date of Holy Week is movable, the same occurs with Corpus Christi. In the year 325, at the Council of Nicaea, the Catholic Church established that Easter would always be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs after the autumnal equinox in Brazil and throughout the southern hemisphere and spring in the northern hemisphere.
This Sunday on which Easter is celebrated can fall between March 22nd and April 25th. In 2026, it was celebrated on April 5th. So, Corpus Christi, celebrated 60 days later, will be celebrated on June 4th.
Another celebration whose date is determined by Easter is Carnival – Shrove Tuesday takes place exactly 47 days before Easter.
What is Corpus Christi?
Corpus Christi, Latin expression meaning “Body of Christ”, is the name of a celebration instituted by the Catholic Church in 1264 to commemorate the Eucharistthe Christian sacrament whereby the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. In Brazil, it is not a national holiday, but it is a state or municipal holiday in several places and an optional holiday in others.
In many Brazilian cities, Corpus Christi processions are traditional, during which the faithful walk through streets decorated with religious designs.
A celebration is held on a Thursday as it is directly linked to another religious datethe last supper of Jesus Christ with the apostles before being crucified, which took place on the Thursday before Easter. On that date, according to the Catholic Church, Christ offered his body and blood to God, represented respectively by bread and wine, and gave this food to the apostles for them to consume, ordering them to do the same with his successors.
“Take them all and eat. [o pão] it is My Body, which is given for you”, Christ would have said. The belief was then created that the bread and wine, from the act of consecration, are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. This phenomenon is called transubstantiation.
It was from there that Corpus Christi was established, with the aim of reaffirming the importance of bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ.
