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By DaveWebster14 – File:Saint Alban, window.jpg, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8323757

Saint Alban (/ˈɔːlbən, ˈæl-/; Latin: Albanus) is venerated as the first-recorded British Christian martyr, and he is considered to be the British protomartyr. Along with fellow Saints Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three named martyrs recorded at an early date from Roman Britain (“Amphibalus” was the name given much later to the priest he was said to have been protecting). He is traditionally believed to have been beheaded in the Roman city of Verulamium (modern St Albans) sometime during the 3rd or 4th century, and his cult has been celebrated there since ancient times.

According to the most elaborate version of the tale found in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Alban lived in Verulamium, sometime during the 3rd or 4th century (see dating controversy below), but some authors, on the basis that Gildas says he crosses the Thames before his martyrdom, place his residence and martyrdom in London. He lived in Roman Britain, but little is known about his religious affiliations, socioeconomic status or citizenship. Sometime in the 3rd or 4th century, Christians began to suffer “cruel persecution.” Alban met a Christian priest fleeing from “persecutors” and sheltered him in his house for a number of days. The priest (who later came to be called Amphibalus, meaning “cloak” in Latin) prayed and “kept watch” day and night, and Alban was so impressed with the priest’s faith and piety that he found himself emulating the priest and soon converted to Christianity. Eventually it came to the ears of an unnamed “impious prince” that Alban was sheltering the priest. The prince gave orders for Roman soldiers to make a strict search of Alban’s house. As they came to seize the priest, Alban put on the priest’s cloak and clothing and presented himself to the soldiers in place of his guest.

Alban was brought before the judge, who just then happened to be standing at the altar, offering sacrifices to “devils” (Bede’s reference to pagan gods).When the judge heard that Alban had offered himself up in place of the priest, he became enraged that Alban would shelter a person who “despised and blasphemed the gods,” and as Alban had given himself up in the Christian’s place, Alban was sentenced to endure all the punishments that were to be inflicted upon the priest unless he would comply with the pagan rites of their religion. Alban refused, and declared, “I worship and adore the true and living God who created all things.” (The words are still used in prayer at St Alban’s Abbey).

The enraged judge ordered Alban scourged, thinking that a whipping would shake the constancy of his heart, but Alban bore these torments patiently and joyfully. When the judge realized that the tortures would not shake his faith, he ordered for Alban to be beheaded.

Alban was led to execution, and he presently came to a fast-flowing river that could not be crossed (believed to be the River Ver). There was a bridge, but a mob of curious townspeople who wished to watch the execution had so clogged the bridge that the execution party could not cross. Filled with an ardent desire to arrive quickly at martyrdom, Alban raised his eyes to heaven, and the river dried up, allowing Alban and his captors to cross over on dry land. The astonished executioner cast down his sword and fell at Alban’s feet, moved by divine inspiration and praying that he might either suffer with Alban or be executed for him.

The other executioners hesitated to pick up his sword, and meanwhile, Alban and they went about 500 paces to a gently sloping hill, completely covered with all kinds of wild flowers, and overlooking a beautiful plain (Bede observes that it was a fittingly beautiful place to be enriched and sanctified by a martyr’s blood).

When Alban reached the summit of the hill, he began to thirst and prayed God would give him water. A spring immediately sprang up at his feet. It was there that his head was struck off, as well as that of the first Roman soldier who was miraculously converted and refused to execute him. However, immediately after delivering the fatal stroke, the eyes of the second executioner popped out of his head and dropped to the ground along with Alban’s head so that this second executioner could not rejoice over Alban’s death.

In later legends, Alban’s head rolled downhill after his execution, and a well sprang up where it stopped. Upon hearing of the miracles, the astonished judge ordered further persecutions to cease, and he began to honour the saint’s death.

St Alban’s Cathedral now stands near the believed site of his execution, and a well is at the bottom of the hill, Holywell Hill.

By de:Carl Emil Doepler the Elder (1824 Warszawa or Schnepfenthal – 1905 Berlin) – http://www.zeller.de/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=210471

The Feast of Corpus Christi (Latin for “Body of Christ”) is the Roman Rite liturgical solemnity celebrating the reality of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in the Eucharist—known as transubstantiation. Two months earlier, the Eucharist is observed on Maundy Thursday in a somber atmosphere leading to Good Friday. Corpus Christi emphasizes the joy of the Eucharist being the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

The feast is liturgically celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday or, “where the Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is not a holy day of obligation, it is assigned to the Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity as its proper day”.

At the end of Holy Mass, there is often a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, generally displayed in a monstrance. The procession is followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. A notable Eucharistic procession is that presided over by the Pope each year in Rome, where it begins at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran and passes to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where it concludes with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

The celebration of the feast was suppressed in Protestant churches during the Reformation, because they do not hold to the teachings of transubstantiation. Depending on the denomination, Protestant churches instead believe in differing views concerning the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, or that Christ is symbolically or metaphorically part of the eucharist. Today, most Protestant denominations do not recognize the feast. The Church of England abolished it in 1548 as the English Reformation progressed, but later reintroduced it.