Making an Irish Free State City – Corpus Christi procession is reborn
The centenary of the modern Corpus Christi procession in Cork is to be celebrated this week. Since 1926 the annual tradition has coincided with an evolving Cork through the decades. Its origin story in the early Irish Free State is often linked to a city trying to heal from the wounds of the civil war by coming together in hope and prayer in devotion of the Holy Eucharist.
In the Roman Catholic Church, the Feast of the Corpus Christi or the celebration of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist, has been celebrated since the early ages. It is mentioned in the calendar of Polemius of the year 448AD. It was celebrated at first on Holy Thursday, but owing to this falling in Holy Week, the church thought it wiser to set apart a separate day for the celebration.
Accordingly, the custom grew of celebrating it on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but it was not until the year 1246AD that this custom had the force of law. In that year, on 8 September, Pope Urban IV established this feast for the universal world. Then in the year 1306AD Popes Martin V and Eugene IV endowed the procession in honour of the feast, with indulgences.
Nineteenth century antiquarian books on Cork detail that the public Corpus Christi processions were held in Cork in pre-Reformation times or pre the early sixteenth century.
It is also certain that in 1603, a Corpus Christi procession was held across North and South Main Streets with great pomp and ceremony. It was held on the death of Queen Elizabeth I and hailed with joy amongst Irish Roman Catholics. It is recorded that within Cork, the churches were reconsecrated for Roman Catholic uses and mass was celebrated. It is clear that in the decades and centuries that followed the tradition of procession was abandoned.
Fast forward to Cork newspaper coverage in the late nineteenth century, when the feast was celebrated. In the 1880s and 1890s, the Cork Examiner records an annual street procession in Cork towns such as Macroom, Kanturk, Fermoy Charleville, Queenstown, Midelton, Youghal and within the grounds of the Capuchin monastery in Rochestown.
It is recorded that for the most part that a procession was done on the grounds of the North Cathedral. However, there is a record of the several of the city’s confraternities assisting in a procession from the North Cathedral to the South Parish in 1876 and 1877.
In the early twentieth century, it is clear that there were three main and known inspirations at least, which led to its re-establishment in 1926 of a procession for Corpus Christi. Firstly, before the dissolution of the members of Cork Corporation in November 1924, in late June 1924, a debate ensued at a sub committee of the corporation on the Tolls and Market Committee on how to mark the Feast of Corpus Christi in the city.
The Cork Examiner on 2 July 1924 relates that Cllr Michael J. O’Riordan expressed his thanks to the chairman and members of the committee for having granted his request that the civic flag should be flown over the corporate buildings – the markets – on the occasion of the feast. He was glad to see that had been done, and he hoped it would be done on all future occasions of holidays like Corpus Christi. He also pushed that when the next feast came around that the “flags would be hoisted in all parts of the city”, and that “a procession through the streets, headed by the lord mayor, would be held as was done by religious communities elsewhere”.
The second known inspiration was from International Eucharistic Congresses held in various countries. The 28th International Eucharistic Congress was hosted in Chicago, USA in June 1926. It marked the first time the global Catholic gathering was in an American city. Over one million people attended.
In the months preceding it, there was much excitement in the Roman Catholic world. Thinking even began in Ireland that the country should host a large congress in Ireland.
The third known inspiration was that Charles K Murphy (1890-1957) of UCC’s law department who was a pious and religious man and a friend of Cork’s Bishop Cohalan. He persuaded him to re-institute the annual procession. The UCC Record journal for 1957 details an obituary for Charles. Born in Cork in 1890, he was educated at Christian Brothers’ College and entered the old Queen’s College under Dr Bertram Windle’s presidency, graduating in Arts and Law. He obtained his MA and also the Higher Diploma in Education in 1913, and four years later in 1917 graduated as LL.B., having been qualified as a solicitor. In UCC’s law department from 1924 onwards for a number of years, he held the chair of Jurisprudence, Roman Law and Real Property. The obituary records of Charles: “His keen intellect and strong sense of humour, and the wide range of his interests, made him a delightful companion. Few men have been regarded with such universal affection and admiration during a long and busy life.”
The UCC Record also describes that Charles was deeply interested also in philosophy and social questions, and he read widely in French and German. But his largest interest was in religious subjects and practical works of charity. He made three separate attempts to study for the priesthood, but decided that his true vocation was as a layman.
In the year that he was admitted as a solicitor in 1917, he became secretary of the St Vincent de Paul Society in Cork, and for the rest of his life its work became the centre of his volunteer work. He was elected president of the society in Cork in 1941, and he continued to hold that office until his death, although he made repeated efforts on principle to retire.
Besides his work for the St Vincent de Paul Society, Charles was deeply concerned with the assistance of juvenile offenders. He argued that they had to face life without help when their characters had been inhibited by early punishment, and ordinary entry into employment was closed against them. Charles gave increasing time and attention to this urgent problem, and he was preparing for publication, before he died, a pamphlet outlining the problem and suggesting resolutions. His most lasting memorial was the Hostel for Homeless Men on Merchant’s Quay, near St Patrick’s Bridge, and the Seamen’s Hostel which adjoined it. He also was a champion of UCC’s Honan Hostel.
To be continued…
Get in contact at mccarthy_kieran@yahoo.com if anyone has some information on Professor Charles Murphy.
June Historical Walking Tours with Kieran: All tours free, 2 hours, no booking required.
Sunday evening, 7 June: Stories from Blackrock Village; meet in adjacent carpark at base of Blackrock Castle at 6.30pm in association with the Cork Harbour Festival.
Sunday evening, 14 June: The Heritage of Sunday’s Well, meet at St Vincent’s Bridge, North Mall end at 6.30pm.
Saturday afternoon, 27 June: The Northern Ridge, St Patrick’s Hill to MacCurtain Street; meet on the Green at Audley Place, top of St Patrick’s Hill at 2pm (finishes on MacCurtain St).
Sunday evening, 28 June: The Banks of the Lee, The Lee Fields and its Heritage, meet at the western end of the Lee Fields footpath, Ballincollig side, as it meets the farm fields at 6.30pm.
Monday evening, 29 May: The Marina, meet at western end adjacent Shandon Boat Club, The Marina, City end carpark at 6.30pm.