Corpus Christi

As you walk up London Road, choral music fills the air. It's not coming directly from Arundel's Roman Catholic cathedral; instead it's being broadcast from a string of loudspeakers hanging from lamp-posts to entertain a small crowd. "Hallelujah, sing to Jesus...", the disembodied voices urge.

This is Corpus Christi: a celebration of the Holy Communion ceremony. It remembers the original breaking of bread and sharing of wine before the crucifixion of Jesus. In Arundel, a town that's known to many tourists for its castle and cream teas, the Corpus Christi celebration sees the town’s gothic-styled church – officially the Cathedral of our Lady and St Philip Howard - carpeted with floral decorations for two days. The celebrations come to a climax on Thursday evening with a church service and a procession through the streets.

After a final blessing, the singing turns to amplified shuffling before a collection of clergy, choir and congregation leave the flower-carpeted church. Following a crucifix and an assortment of celebratory banners, hundreds of people march with the Blessed Sacrament to Arundel Castle... before returning to the cathedral, where the now trampled-on flower carpet is soon swept up.

Slowly but surely

I’m still here in Arundel. As is the “For Sale” sign outside my house. But things are moving in the right direction. I have a potential buyer who’s not part of a chain, who’s arranged a mortgage… and whose mortgage company surveyor came to visit this week.

I’m starting to think about the things I’ll miss – although, to be honest, I’ll still be in a position to see most of them anyway. The Corpus Christi flowers, for example, which will be covering the floor of Arundel Cathedral next week. The Arundel Festival, scheduled for the end of August. And walks down the river to the Black Rabbit.

There’s also plenty of excitement ahead, too – so stay tuned for the next thrilling instalment from Del Arun!

Corpus Christi

Arundel is dominated by its castle and by the cathedral – an enormous gothic-style building that was built in the 19th century but only became a cathedral in 1965. It’s a Roman Catholic cathedral; something that puzzled me as a child because I’d been taught that only cities had cathedrals. But I digress.

Every year the cathedral celebrates Corpus Christi – the day on which Christians commemorate the creation of ‘holy communion’ – with a flower festival. It’s an impressive sight, with coaches full of visitors dropping people off to see flower heads and petals arranged on the cathedral floor. Fortunately the police have put ‘no waiting’ signs outside the cathedral (although they’ve misspelt the festival as “Corpus Christie”, which gives the impression that Jesus was related to Agatha).

On the feast day itself, there’s a service held in the cathedral, following which the priest and congregation leave the church by walking over the flowers. At least, that’s what I’m told. I’ve never been inside for it.

That day is tomorrow, so the festival opened this morning at 9.30am. I was up there pretty promptly – mainly to beat the crowds, although I’ll confess I wanted to ‘get it done’ because there’s 'proper' work I need to do today. Here’s what it looked like…