Eucharistic congress

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In the 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 Catholic doctrine. Congresses bring together people from a wide area, and typically involve large open-air Masses, Eucharistic adoration (Blessed Sacrament), and other devotional ceremonies held over several days. Congresses may both refer to National (varies by country) and International Eucharistic Congresses.

On 28 November 1897, Pope Leo XIII proclaimed Saint Paschal Baylón patron of Eucharistic Congresses and Associations.^[1]

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The first International Eucharistic Congress owed its inspiration to Bishop Gaston de Ségur, and was held at Lille, France, on June 21, 1881. The initial inspiration behind the idea came from the laywoman Marie-Marthe-Baptistine Tamisier (1834–1910) who spent a decade lobbying clergy. The sixth congress met in Paris in 1888, and the great memorial Church of the Sacred Heart on Montmartre was the center of the proceedings. Antwerp hosted the next congress in 1890, at which an immense altar of repose was erected in the Place de Meir, and an estimated 150,000 persons gathered around it when Cardinal Goossens, Archbishop of Mechelen, 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, as it was the first congress held outside Europe.

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 international in nature, and at the invitation of Archbishop Bourne of Westminster the nineteenth congress was held 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, Switzerland;
• Bishop Doutreloux of Liège, Belgium;
• Bishop Thomas Louis 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.

International Eucharistic Congresses

Num.	Date	Location	Theme	Notes
1st	1881 Jun	Lille	The Eucharist Saves the World
2nd	1882 Sep	Avignon
3rd	1883 Jun	Liège
4th	1885 Sep	Fribourg
5th	1887 Jun	Toulouse
6th	1888 Jul	Paris
7th	1890 Aug	Antwerp
8th	1893 May	Jerusalem	The Divine Mystery of the Eucharist	First congress held outside Europe. Attended by hundreds of Latin Rite and Eastern Rite Patriarchs, bishops, priests, and faithful.
9th	1894 Jul	Reims
10th	1897 Sep	Paray-le-Monial
11th	1898 Jul	Brussels
12th	1899 Aug	Lourdes
13th	1901 Sep	Angers
14th	1902 Sep	Namur
15th	1904 Jun	Angoulême
16th	1905 Jun	Rome
17th	1906 Aug	Tournai
18th	1907 Aug	Metz
19th	1908 Sep	London		First Congress held in the English-speaking world.
20th	1909 Aug	Cologne
21st	1910 Sep 7–11	Montreal		First Congress held in North America or the Western Hemisphere.
22nd	1911 Jul	Madrid
23rd	1912 Sep 12–15	Vienna
24th	1913 Apr 23–27	Malta
25th	1914 Jul 22–25	Lourdes	The Eucharist and the Social Reign of Jesus Christ	Cardinal G. Pignatelli of Belmonte was the papal legate.
26th	1922 May 24–29	Rome	The Peaceful Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist	Pope Pius XI officiated the Mass at the St. Peter's Square; first congress after World War I.
27th	1924 Jul 22–27	Amsterdam	The Eucharist and Holland	Cardinal Van Rossum was the papal legate.
28th	1926 Jun 20–24	Chicago		First congress in the United States. Papal legate: Cardinal Bonzano. Hosted by Cardinal Mundelein, Archbishop of Chicago. Est worshippers: 500,000 at Soldier Field mass, 1 million at St. Mary of the Lake closing mass.
29th	1928 Sep 6–9	Sydney		First congress in Australia. The procession of the Eucharist, headed by the papal legate Cardinal Cerretti, was witnessed by 500,000.[2]
30th	1930 May 7–11	Carthage	The Eucharist is Africa's testimony	First congress held in Africa.
31st	1932 Jun 22–26	Dublin	The Propagation of the Sainted Eucharist by Irish Missionaries	1500th anniversary of Saint Patrick's arrival in Ireland. Catholic population of Ireland in 1932 was 3 million.[3]
32nd	1934 Oct 10–14	Buenos Aires		First congress in South America. Papal legate Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII).[4] Over one million people around Palmero Park heard a radio broadcast from the pope in Vatican City. Cardinal Pacelli celebrated High Mass and pronounced apostolic blessing on participants.[5]
33rd	1937 Feb 3–7	Manila	Jesus in the Eucharist, Bread of Angels, Bread of Life	First congress in Asia and in the Philippines. Attended by 1.5 million from around the world. Pontifical Masses in Rizal Park, with hundreds of thousands at each.[6]
34th	1938 May 25–30	Budapest	Eucharist, the Bond of Love	Papal legate Cardinal Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII).[7] Over 100,000 people from all over the world, including 15 cardinals and 330 bishops.[8]
35th	1952 May 27-Jun 1	Barcelona	Peace	First congress since the end of World War II. Attended by hundreds of bishops and church officials, including Cardinal Spellman of New York, and Cardinal Stritch of Chicago. The Cold War limited attendance from communist eastern European countries.[9]
36th	1955 Jul 17–24	Rio de Janeiro	Christ the Redeemer and His Eucharistic Kingdom[10]
37th	1960 Jul 31–Aug 7	Munich		City chosen by Pope Pius XII, who had been papal nuncio there. Attended by 430 bishops and 28 cardinals, including Cardinal Spellman of New York, Cardinal Cushing of Boston, and Cardinal Meyer of Chicago. Laid a foundation stone for a "church of atonement" near Dachau concentration camp. Closing Statio Orbis Mass celebrated on Theresienwiese Square.[11][12]
38th	1964 Nov 12–15	Bombay		First congress in a country without a significant Christian population, aiming to disseminate the doctrine of the "real presence of Christ in the Eucharist." Attended by Pope Paul VI, many cardinals, and 20,000 foreign visitors.[13]
39th	1968 Aug 18–25	Bogotá	The Eucharist as the Bond of Love	Bogota DC was chosen personally by Pope Paul VI, to host the 39th International Eucharistic Congress, following his visit to the Colombian capital. This was the third Congress ever held in a Spanish speaking country, and the first Congress held in Colombia. The Eucharistic Congress was attended by bishops, archbishops, cardinals, clergy members, and faithful from all over Latin America and the World, including the Archpishop of Bogota Luis Concha Cordoba, the Colombian Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, Pope Paul VI, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires Juan Carlos Aramburu, the Archbishop of Paris François Marty, Archbishop Carroll of Miami, and Archbishop Dearden of Detroit (USA). The Congress was focused on the renovation of the Catholic Church worldwide, but particularly that of Colombia, which was a country seeing great economic and social prosperity due to its economic boom in the mid 20th century. Colombia was a country that demonstrated the great social and economic changes to global societies, as Colombia strived industrialized and modern society, and it was with this in mind, that it was chosen to be the seat of the 1968 International Eucharistic Congress.
40th	1973 Feb 18–25	Melbourne	"Love one another as I have loved you!" [14][15]
41st	1976 Aug 1–8	Philadelphia	Hungers of the Human Family	Attended by 1,500,000 people, including 44 Cardinals and 417 bishops.[16] Theme: "The Eucharist and the Hungers of the Human Family" (physical and spiritual hungers).[17] Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day were panelists at a conference on Women and the Eucharist.[18] Future Pope John Paul II gave the homily for Freedom and Justice.[19] US President Ford spoke of freedom and the Church's work for peace.[20][21][22]
42nd	1981 Jul 16–23	Lourdes	"Jesus Christ, bread broken for a new world"	Organization: Henri Donze, Bishop of Lourdes; papal legate Cardinal Bernardin Gantin. Great number of young people, from Third World. Procession with candles successful.[23] This was the third time the congress was held at Lourdes.[24]
43rd	1985 Aug 11–18	Nairobi	The Eucharist and the Christian Family	Attended by Pope John Paul II.[25]
44th	1989 Oct 4–8	Seoul	Christ is our Peace	As he did four years prior, Pope John Paul II attended the congress, holding the Solemn Mass entirely in Korean on the final day. The two principal objectives were: promoting a deeper understanding of the Eucharist; and living the eucharistic faith in the reality of our world. Attendance was reported to be around 1 million.[26]
45th	1993 Jun 7–13	Seville	Christ Light of Nations	The first post-Cold War congress, Pope John Paul II addressed the congress and declared, "I hope the fruit of this congress results in the establishment of perpetual Eucharistic adoration in all parishes and Christian communities throughout the world."[27]
46th	1997 May 25–Jun 1	Wrocław	Freedom as Reflected in the Eucharist	Attended by Pope John Paul II.[28] The congress addressed the distinction between "freedom" and "liberty".[29][30]
47th	2000 Jun 18–25	Rome		The third to be celebrated in Rome, the congress was the first of its kind to be celebrated in a Jubilee Year.
48th	2004 Oct 10–17	Guadalajara		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 to a simultaneous Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, celebrated 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 General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2005.[citation needed]
49th	2008 Jun 15–22	Quebec City	The Eucharist, Gift of God for the Life of the World[31]	This congress coincided with the 400th anniversary of the city's founding.[31] The closing celebration took place on the Plains of Abraham, attended by tens of thousands of pilgrims.[32] 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.[32] The Pope announced the next Congress was to take place in Dublin, Ireland, in 2012.
50th	2012 Jun 10–17	Dublin	The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another (drawn from Lumen gentium)	The congress coincided with the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the Second Vatican Council.[33] In addition to the daily celebration of the Eucharist, there were over thirty workshops and presentations daily on various themes associated with the Eucharist. For many years, the Church has failed to respond appropriately to child abuse by clergy.[according to whom?] The blessing of a Healing Stone by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, as well as a personal meeting between the Papal Legate, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, and survivors of clergy sexual abuse, were among the ways in which the issue was addressed.[34] The Pope delivered a pre-recorded address to the closing ceremony on June 17. [35][36]
51st	2016 Jan 24–31	Cebu City	Christ in You, Our Hope of Glory (From the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians)	The second time in the Philippines, including Manila in 1937. Pope Francis appointed the first Cardinal of Myanmar Cardinal Charles Maung Bo as the Papal Legate.[37]
52nd	2021 Sep 5–12	Budapest	"In You (=in Eucharistic Jesus) is the source of all our blessings." (Cfr.: Ps 87, 7)	Originally scheduled to take place in September 2020, it was postponed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the second time Hungary hosted after 1938. Pope Francis performed a mass at Heroes Square, Budapest.[38][39]
53rd	2024 Sep 8–15	Quito	Fraternity to Heal the World	This was in the first Andean country to host the event. It coincided with the 150th anniversary of the consecration of Ecuador to the Sacred Heart of Jesus made in 1874 by President Gabriel García Moreno and supported by Pope Pius IX.[40]
54rd	2028	Sydney		It’s the first time the event is being held in Australia since Melbourne hosted in 1973, and the second time in Sydney since 1928, that just coincides with the centennary of the first international eucharistic congress held in these city, and the most largest ecumenical event since the World Youth Day 2008.[41][42]

National Eucharistic Congresses for the United States of America^[43]

Num.	Date	Location	Theme	Notes
1st	1895 Oct 2–3	Washington, DC		Held at St. Patrick's Church, the oldest Catholic church in Washington, DC, and at Catholic University, then only 8 years old. Twenty-five archbishops and bishops attended, most prominently James Cardinal Gibbon, the Archbishop of Baltimore along with some 250 priests, most from Fr. Peter Julian Eymard's Priests' Eucharistic League, and most from the Eastern United States.[44]
2nd	1901 Oct 8–10	St. Louis, MO		Held at St. Francis Xavier, the college church for St. Louis University, some 15 bishops and 600 priests from the Priests' Eucharistic League attended.[45]
3rd	1904 Sep 27–29	New York, NY		Held at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Archbishop John M. Farley of New York hosted the event.[46]
4th	1907 Oct 15–17	Pittsburgh, PA		Held in the Cathedral of St. Paul.[47]
5th	1911 Sep 28–Oct 1	Cincinnati, OH		Held at St. Peter's Cathedral. Archbishop Henry K. Moeller of Cincinnati hosted the event.[48]
6th	1930 Sep 23–25	Omaha, NE		The Congress was held at a number of different locations in Omaha, including the cathedral, St. Cecilia's and Creighton University. A number of newsreel companies were on hand to film the event. Bishop Joseph Rummel of Omaha hosted the event.[49]
7th	1935 Sep 23–26	Cleveland, OH	The Holy Eucharist, The Source and Inspiration of Catholic Action	500,000 Catholics from around the nation attended. The final Mass, in Cleveland Municipal Stadium drew 125,000. Speakers included Fulton J. Sheen, and Alfred E. Smith, the first Catholic major party presidential candidate. Pope Pius XI addressed the Congress by radio.[50]
8th	1938 Oct 17–20	New Orleans, LA		Held in City Park Stadium. Chicago's George Cardinal Mundelein, served as a special Papal legate for the Congress. The Goodyear Blimp broadcast sermons, music and the rosary over special loudspeakers along the route for the final procession. Over radio, Pope Pius XI opened the Congress with a five minute address and closed it with a special blessing from Castel Gandolfo.[51]
9th	1941 Jun 22–26	St. Paul, MN	Our Eucharistic Lord Glorified by Sacrifice	Held at the fairgrounds for the Minnesota State Fair. About 150 bishops from across the United States attended.[52]
10th	2024 Jul 17–21	Indianapolis, IN	Revival Happens Here	Held in the Indianapolis Colt's Lucas Oil Stadium.[53] About 50,000 people attended, among whom were 1,500 Catholic priests.

• Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses
• Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist
• World Youth Day

• Chesterton, Gilbert Keith. The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton. Ignatius Press. ISBN 978-0-89870-854-7.
• de Courcy, J. W. (1996). The Liffey in Dublin. Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-7171-2423-7.

• congressieucaristici.va – Official site of the Pontifical Committee for the International Eucharistic Congresses
  • Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses (archive website)
• iec2016.ph – Official Website for the 2016 International Eucharistic Congress
• iec2020.hu/en – Official Website for the 2020 International Eucharistic Congress
• iec2024.ec/ - Official Website for the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress

• The 1926 Cardinal's Train to the 28th International Eucharistic Congress in Chicago at ThemeTrains.com.
• Samantha Frappell (2012). "International Eucharistic Congress 1928". Dictionary of Sydney. Dictionary of Sydney Trust. Retrieved October 5, 2015. [CC-By-SA]
• 49th International Eucharistic Congress (2008): Photo Gallery by The Catholic Photographer

• Eucharistic Congresses on New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia