Eucharistic Congress

In the Roman Catholic church, a Eucharistic Congress is a gathering of clergy, religious, and laity to bear witness to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, which is an important Roman Catholic doctrine. Congresses bring together people from a wide area, and typically involve large open-air Masses, adoration of the Eucharist (Blessed Sacrament), and other devotional ceremonies held over several days. There are National and International Eucharistic Congresses.
==Early Eucharistic Congresses==
The first International Eucharistic Congress owed its inspiration to Bishop Gaston de Ségur, and was held at Lille, France, 21 June 1881. The idea at first was merely local and met with few adherents, but it grew from year to year with an ever-increasing importance. The sixth congress met in Paris, 2–6 July 1888, and the great memorial church of the Sacred Heart on Montmartre was the centre of the proceedings. Antwerp entertained the next congress, 15-21 August 1890; an immense altar of repose was erected in the Place de Meir, and an estimated 150,000 persons were gathered about it when Cardinal Goossens, Archbishop of Mechlin, gave the solemn Benediction. Bishop Doutreloux of Liège was then president of the Permanent Committee for the Organization of Eucharistic Congresses, the body which has charge of the details of these meetings. Of special importance also was the eighth congress, held in Jerusalem in 1893.
==International Eucharistic Congresses==
In 1907, the congress was held in Metz, Lorraine, and the German Government suspended the law of 1870 (which forbade processions), in order that the usual solemn procession of the Blessed Sacrament might be held. Each year the congress had become more and more definitely international, and at the invitation of Archbishop Bourne of Westminster it was decided to hold the nineteenth congress in London, the first among English-speaking members of the Church.
The presidents of the Permanent Committee of the International Eucharistic Congresses, under whose direction all this progress was made, were: Bishop Gaston de Ségur of Lille; Archbishop de La Bouillerie, titular of Perga and coadjutor of Bordeaux; Archbishop Duquesnay of Cambrai; Cardinal Mermillod, Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva; Bishop Doutreloux of Liège, and Bishop Thomas Heylen of Namur, Belgium. After each congress this committee prepared and published a volume giving a report of all the papers read and the discussions on them in the various sections of the meeting, the sermons preached, the addresses made at the public meetings, and the details of all that transpired.
===Sixth National Eucharistic Conference, Madras===
In 1937, the sixth National Eucharistic Conference was held in Madras.
Silver Souvenir medals with scolopped edges, with the inspription ADOREMUS IN AETERNUM SANCTISSIMUM SACRAMENTUM were made available at the time. This inscription was around the scolopped edges with the picture of the Holy Eucharist and the Vatican in the background. At the back of the medal was inscribed SOUVENIR OF THE SIXTH NATIONAL EUCHARIST CONGRESS MADRAS, 1937.
===31st International Eucharistic Congress, Dublin===
In 1932 the 31st International Eucharistic Congress was held in Dublin from June 22 to June 26, that year being the 1500th anniversary of Saint Patrick's arrival. Ireland was then home to 3,171,697 Catholics, and the chosen theme was "The Propagation of the Sainted Eucharist by Irish Missionaries." Two days before the Congress, Time Magazine noted the Congress' special theme:
===21st century===
The 47th International Eucharistic Congress was held in Rome from 18-25 June 2000. It was the third to be celebrated in Rome, and the first of its kind to be celebrated in a Jubilee Year.
The 48th International Eucharistic Congress was held in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico from 10 to 17 October 2004. Pope John Paul II, being too ill to attend, named Cardinal Josef Tomko as Papal Legate. The Congress ended with a celebration of the Mass in the Jalisco Stadium in Guadalajara, with a live link up between that Mass, and a simultaneous Mass celebrated in St Peter's Basilica in Rome in the presence of Pope John Paul II. These simultaneous Masses marked the beginning of the Year of the Eucharist which ran from the International Eucharistic Congress to the Synod of Bishops in October 2005. At the end of the Mass, the Pope announced the location of the next Congress.
In May 2007, a Youth Summit was held at the University of Laval in preparation for the 49th International Eucharistic Congress. This took place in Quebec City, 15–22 June 2008, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the city's founding. The theme of the Congress was
"The Eucharist, Gift of God for the Life of the World". The closing celebration took place on the Plains of Abraham, attended by tens of thousands of pilgrims. Pope Benedict XVI's message was broadcast live, in both French and English, from the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, via giant screens set up on the meadow. The Pope announced the next Congress was to take place in Dublin, in 2012:
==Notes==
==References==
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==External links==
*Catholic Encyclopedia
*List on the Vatican`s WebSite of the International Eucharistic Congresses
* Official Website for the 2008 Eucharistic Conference
* The Cardinal's Train to the 28th IEC in 1926
Category:Roman Catholicism in the world
Category:Roman Catholic Eucharistic theology
ar:المؤتمر الأفخارستي بقرطاج
cs:Mezinárodní eucharistický kongres
fr:Congrès eucharistique
ko:세계 성체 대회
nl:Internationaal Eucharistisch Congres
ru:Евхаристический конгресс