On an unseasonably hot first weekend of summer, about 300 people braved high temperatures to process with the Blessed Sacrament throughout Manhattan’s Upper West Side and Central Park on Corpus Christi Sunday.

The Feast of Corpus Christi dates back to 1264, when Pope Urban IV instituted it following a Eucharistic miracle in Italy that year.

The June 22 procession began with a French-language Mass at the Church of Notre Dame on West 114th Street, with a few parishioners then walking to Corpus Christi Church on West 121^st for the noon choir Mass. The procession departed from Corpus Christi just before 1:30 p.m.

From Corpus Christi, the group made its way on the sidewalk along Amsterdam Avenue, turning on West 107th Street to its first stop, the Church of the Ascension on 107^th Street. At each stop, the procession gathered inside for prayer and brief adoration, and to rest, drink water, and enjoy some air conditioning.

From the Church of the Ascension, the procession continued south on Amsterdam Avenue to Holy Name of Jesus Church on W. 96^th Street, part of Holy Name-St. Gregory Parish, where pastor Father George Sears joined the walk and took up the monstrance.

Ringing bells announced the procession’s approach, and it passed by with clouds of incense. As the procession passed, onlookers blessed themselves and took photos or videos. Those in the procession sang hymns as they walked, mostly in Spanish but also in English, and prayed the Rosary.

The group entered Central Park, where participants enjoyed some merciful shade and the occasional forgiving breeze. Exiting the park at 72^nd Street, the group proceeded to its final stop, Blessed Sacrament Church, where the procession concluded.

“It’s so moving to see how this brings people together,” Elise Mara, a student at Columbia University and a member of the Columbia Student Choir, told The Good Newsroom. “It’s the universal Church,” she said.

Father Peter A. Heasley, pastor of Notre Dame and Corpus Christi, was the first to carry the monstrance. “There was a really beautiful moment for me. We’re processing through the park, and suddenly, I can see, because of the light, the reflection in the glass of the monstrance, so I can see the Host, and I can see the reflection of everybody behind me. It’s everybody making up the body of Christ. We call it the Sacrament of Unity, and there we are all sort of gathered into Him, there in the monstrance,” he told The Good Newsroom after the procession.

Father Sears also reflected on his experience. “When we were praying the Divine Mercy chaplet, and I said, ‘Have mercy on us and the whole world.’ I just felt Jesus’ mercy being poured out upon everybody, upon everybody that was with us, upon all of Central Park, upon the whole city, and all the world. So that was very powerful.”

Jeffrey Vargas of New Rochelle traveled to Manhattan to participate in the procession. “I wanted to participate today to express my faith in a public forum. I had the great pleasure of going to the Corpus Christi Feast in Orvieto, Italy, in 2022. So, to participate in this procession here in the city, I think it is very special for me because I can see the contrast from where it started in Italy, to right here in the Big Apple,” he said.