Corpus Christi guilds
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Corpus Christi guilds were medieval religious guilds centering around the Feast of Corpus Christi and the Corpus Christi procession.[1] Other common aims of the guilds were providing altar candles to illuminate the Sacred Host[2] and accompanying priests when taking communion to the sick or dying.[3]
It was a common dedication for English guilds.[4] There were also a number of confréries dedicated to Corpus Christi in France.[5]
Examples
- The Cambridge Guild of Corpus Christi, which became Corpus Christi College, Cambridge[6]
- A London Corpus Christi guild founded in the Church of All Hallows, Bread Street became the Worshipful Company of Salters[7]
- In medieval Ipswich the town's Gild Merchant after losing its monopoly transformed into a religious guild of Corpus Christi[8] and founded Ipswich School
- The Corpus Christi Guild in York was a guild that attracted a large proportion of the city's elite including the Archbishop[9]
