The 21st International Eucharistic Congress in Montreal in 1910. Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier is standing on the right.
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;
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.
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]
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]
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]
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]
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.
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]
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]
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]
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]
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.
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.
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]
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 centenary of the first international eucharistic congress held in these city, and the most largest ecumenical event since the World Youth Day 2008.[41][42]
List of National Congresses
National Eucharistic Congresses for the United States of America[43]
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]
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. The Dicastery is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible for promulgating and defending Catholic doctrine.
Francis Joseph Spellman was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967. Spellman previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston from 1932 to 1939. He was created a cardinal by Pius XII in 1946.
The Archdiocese of Washington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church for the District of Columbia and several Maryland counties in the United States.
Timothy Michael Dolan is an American cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the tenth and current archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York in the United States, having been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.
Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy was an Indian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Roman Curia and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1985. His episcopical motto was Aedificare domum Dei which means "To build the house of God". He was the fourth cardinal from India and the first curial cardinal of Asia outside of the Middle East.
Edward Kenneth Braxton is an American Catholic prelate who served Bishop of Belleville from 2005 to 2020. Braxton previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis from 1995 to 2000 and Bishop of Lake Charles from 2000 to 2005.
Kevin Joseph Farrell KGCHS is an Irish-born prelate of the Catholic Church who has been a cardinal and has served as prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life since 2016. In 2019, he was appointed Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church as well.
John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan is a Nigerian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was archbishop of the Latin Church archdiocese of Abuja from 1994 to 2019 and was made a cardinal in 2012. He has served as president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria and bishop of Ilorin.
Louis Anthony DeSimone was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia from 1981 to 1997.
The Diocese of Rome, also called the Vicariate of Rome, is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church under the direct jurisdiction of the Pope, who is Bishop of Rome and hence the supreme pontiff and head of the worldwide Catholic Church. As the Holy See, the papacy is a sovereign entity with diplomatic relations, and civil jurisdiction over the Vatican City State located geographically within Rome. The Diocese of Rome is the metropolitan diocese of the province of Rome, an ecclesiastical province in Italy. According to Catholic tradition, the first bishop of Rome was Saint Peter in the first century. The incumbent since 13 March 2013 is Pope Francis.
Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo is a Venezuelan prelate of the Catholic Church, who was named Metropolitan Archbishop of Caracas in 2023 after serving as apostolic administrator there for four and a half years. He was auxiliary bishop of Mérida from 1983 to 1991 and then metropolitan archbishop of Mérida from 1991 to 2023. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2016.
João Braz de Aviz is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has served as the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011. He began his career working for twenty years as a parish priest and seminary teacher. He became a bishop in 1994 and was bishop of Ponta Grossa from 1998 to 2002, archbishop of Maringá from 2002 to 2004, and archbishop of Brasília from 2004 to 2011.
Lucian Mureșan is a Romanian prelate of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church who has been the first Major Archbishop of the Greek Catholic Archdiocese of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia since 2005. He was archbishop there from 1994 to 2005 and bishop of Maramureș from 1990 to 1994. He has been a cardinal of the Catholic Church since 2012. As Major Archbishop of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia he is based in Blaj and is the head of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church.
Catholic laity are the ordinary members of the Catholic Church who are neither clergy nor recipients of Holy Orders or vowed to life in a religious order or congregation. Their mission, according to the Second Vatican Council, is to "sanctify the world".
Robert Walter McElroy is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of San Diego in California since 2015.
Luis Antonio Chito Gokim Tagle is a Filipino prelate of the Catholic Church currently serving as the Pro-Prefect for the Section of Evangelization of Dicastery for Evangelization since June 5, 2022, and as the President of Interdicasterial Commission for Consecrated Religious since December 8, 2019. He was the 32nd Archbishop of Manila from 2011 to 2020. Tagle is the Cardinal-Bishop of San Felice da Cantalice a Centocelle and also serves as the President of the Catholic Biblical Federation, Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Urbaniana University, and as a member of various departments and dicasteries in the Roman Curia.
Stephen Robson is the retired bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunkeld. From 2012 to 2014 he was auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
Dennis Cabanada Villarojo is a Filipino catholic prelate currently serving as the fifth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Malolos in the Philippines. Prior to his current role, Villarojo served as an auxiliary bishop of Cebu from 2015 until he took office as Bishop of Malolos on his installation in August 21, 2019. He was the secretary-general for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress which took place in Cebu in 2016.
2016 International Eucharistic Congress was the 51st edition of the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) which took place from January 24–31, 2016 in Cebu City, Philippines. A convention center, the International Eucharistic Congress Pavilion, was constructed for this occasion. Pope Francis sent Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar as his papal legate and presider at the opening Mass on January 24.
The IEC Convention Center of Cebu or the IC3 Convention Center is a convention center within the grounds of the 23 Minore Park development along Pope John Paul II Avenue in Barangay Luz, Cebu City, Philippines. The convention center was built in order to host the 2016 International Eucharistic Congress held in the city.
↑ John DeMayo and Joseph Casino, The Forty-First Interional Eucharistic Congress, August 1–8, 1976: A History, (Pennsauken: DeVilieger, 1978) 6, 144; MC 80, 100.611: Committee on Special Guests: Final Report to the Board of Governors, August 16, 1967, https://omeka.chrc-phila.org/items/show/8121.
↑ MC 80, 100.1548: Letter to Cardinal Krol from Dorothy Day January 29, 1976, https://omeka.chrc-phila.org/items/show/8123; MC 80, 100.1673: Letter to Cardinal Krol from Mother Teresa.
↑ MC 80, 100.1755S7.1: Karol Cardinal Wojtyla Homily
↑ Poirier, Rev. E. (1904). "The Eucharistic Movement and the Third Eucharistic Congress of the United States". In Third Eucharistic Congress (ed.). Third Eucharistic Congress of the United States. pp.5–6. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
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