5 - Corpus Domini Celebration

Summary

In 1535, Emperor Charles V paid a visit to Naples after winning back Tunis from Barbarossa. The city’s dignitaries and the religious and civil orders welcomed him according to the arrangement of the Corpus Domini ceremony. Corpus Domini was a didactic feast aimed at reinforcing the doctrines of Catholicism. Through Corpus Domini, one of the most solemn of Christian festivities, the procession of the Eucharist commemorated the Passion of Christ and its mystery. During the celebrations, however, the religious experience of Corpus Domini reflected not only the spiritual communion provided by the body of Christ, but also the social changes Spanish dynasts sought to achieve in their domains. Corpus Domini in Naples acquired a new political dimension with the Spanish Aragonese dynasty, a rearrangement Habsburg rulers and their viceroys cultivated. All Spanish rulers transformed the rituals of Corpus Domini’s symbolism into a political message: to strengthen Spanish rule. Both the act of enhancing the participation of the common people and that of subjugating the nobility expressed during the Corpus Domini celebrations served to ascertain Spanish imperial power and achieve good government.