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Hundreds of parishioners at St. Mary’s Catholic Church marched out of their sanctuary on Sunday and onto the streets for a religious procession, reviving an ancient tradition.

The Feast of Corpus Christi Procession originated in the 13th century but had fallen out of practice in many American Catholic Churches until recent years, when it started to make a comeback.

“We came to this church about a year ago because we heard of its reverent traditions and devotions,” said St. Mary’s parishioner Jim Holuj, who marched with his wife and their four children. “It’s old school.”

The Rev. Dindo Billote and other church organizers brought the procession to St. Mary’s three years ago.

Since then, he said, they’ve added more components to the procession, such as more music, children dropping flower petals ahead of the marchers and stops for prayers at three altars to symbolize the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

“That’s the stuff people respond to,” said parishioner Joe Figliulo. “It’s treated with holiness. There’s a lot of meaning to the procession.”

During a Mass before the procession, the Rev. Raed Bader explained the meaning of procession during his sermon.

The Feast of Corpus Christi, Latin for the body of Christ, celebrates the Eucharist, or the partaking of bread and wine as the body and blood of Jesus.

“Without the Eucharist there is no church,” Bader told parishioners.

Bader said the procession also symbolizes the march of the Israelites to find the Holy Land as written about in the Old Testament.

With them, he said, they carried the Ark of the Covenant, which contained mana, or the bread that sustained them through the desert.

“We are here on our journey to the Promised Land,” Bader said.

Hundreds of parishioners from St. Mary's Catholic Church marched Sunday down 195th Street in Mokena as part of a religious procession and service. Crews from Mokena and New Lenox emergency management services blocked traffic for the procession.
Hundreds of parishioners from St. Mary’s Catholic Church marched Sunday down 195th Street in Mokena as part of a religious procession and service. Crews from Mokena and New Lenox emergency management services blocked traffic for the procession.

He said he was recently part of a Corpus Christi Procession at St. Isaac Jogues Church in Hinsdale, which was led by the bishop of the Joliet Archdiocese.

About a thousand worshippers marched there, Bader said, and residents came out of their homes taking pictures wondering “what the Catholics were doing.”

A few residents along 195th Street in Mokena, where the procession marched, also came out to snap a few photos.

The procession traveled about a half-mile to Old St. Mary’s Church, which was built in 1864, where another ceremony was held before conclusion.

“I like that it brings the new church back to the old church,” said parishioner Beth Casper.