CONGREGATION OF THE BODY OF CHRIST. - Monastic institute founded in 1328 by the blessed Andrea di Paolo (d. ca. 1345), marquis of Torre Andrea (in the vicinity of Assisi), who after spending some years in the Benedictine abbey of Monte Subasio, obtained from the blessed Alessandro Vincioli, bishop of Nocera Umbra, permission to live according to the Cistercian Rule near Gualdo Tadino, where he built a monastery, called that of the Corpus Domini, which became the center of the C. and the residence of the abbot general, to whom 12 other monasteries were subject.
The members of this C. were called White Monks, from their habit, or brothers of the Most Holy Sacrament from their office, because their institute was entirely oriented toward the Eucharist: to preserve it with decorum, to prepare the faithful to receive it worthily, to carry it (by privilege) in processions, and above all to solemnize Corpus Domini with its attached octave, making themselves heralds of the spiritual privileges granted by Urban IV and Martin V. Their coat of arms consisted of a chalice surmounted by a host supported by adoring angels. In 1377 they received the approval of Gregory XI. In 1395 Boniface IX transferred the dignity of abbot general to the superior of S. Maria in Campis of Foligno, because the monastery of the Corpus Domini of Gualdo had been almost destroyed for reasons of war. At Foligno, toward the end of the 14th century, the female community of S. Maria di Betlemme was formed, which associated itself in its purposes with the C., on whose general it depended until 1461, the year in which it was subjected to episcopal jurisdiction. The C. had almost three centuries of life and developed only in Umbria (Gualdo, Nocera, Perugia, Umbertide, Todi, Foligno), except for Camerino. In 1582, at the request of the abbot general, the C. was united by Gregory XIII to the Olivetans, who since 1319 had a monastery at Foligno. The last monk of the C. died in 1643. At Gualdo Tadino, in the municipal picture gallery, a panel by Matteo da Gualdo is preserved, in which the founder of the C. is depicted kneeling behind the Virgin.
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Antonio Pislanti