EUCHARISTIC CONGRESSES. — E. c. are gatherings of the clergy and Christian people for the purpose of publicly glorifying the Most Blessed Sacrament, recalling the faithful to their Eucharistic duties, and thus effectively cooperating in the spread of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ throughout the world. E. c. may be international, national, regional, interdiocesan, diocesan, interparochial, parochial, etc., according to the more or less broad scope of their celebration. They consist of a cultural section devoted to the study of the congress theme, as well as liturgical ceremonies and prayer meetings.
The idea of promoting e. c. is due to Maria Marta Emilia Tamisier, born in Tours, France, on 1 November 1844 and piously deceased there on 20 June 1910. Formed at the school of Blessed Pietro Giuliano Eymard, she resolved to devote all her strength to promoting the salvation of society through the Eucharist. Following the example of pilgrimages to Marian shrines, Tamisier thought that pilgrimages should be organized to shrines hallowed by the memory of miracles of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The idea was encouraged by priests and laypeople of great virtue. The destination of the first pilgrimage was, in 1874, the chapel known as that of the Grey Penitents in Avignon. Its success led to the organization of others, often accompanied by a gathering called the “Congress of the Most Blessed Sacrament,” at which Eucharistic works were discussed.
The pilgrimage to Faverney in 1878, concluded by a small study congress of considerable practical interest, heralded an even broader and more intense Eucharistic movement. The period of the true e. c. had now begun.
On 17 January 1881, at a meeting in Paris presided over by Msgr. de Ségur, the foundation of the Work of the International e. c. was decided upon; Lille was chosen as the site of the first. Its principal organizer was Filiberto Vrau, the driving force behind Catholic works in northern France. He went to Rome to obtain the approval of Pope Leo XIII. The pope granted it in a laudatory brief dated 16 May 1881 and wished his blessing to be conveyed to the Lille assembly.
The international e. c. held to date number 34: 1st Lille (1881), 2nd Avignon (1882), 3rd Liège (1883), 4th Fribourg (1885), 5th Toulouse (1886), 6th Paris (1888), 7th Antwerp (1890), 8th Jerusalem (1893), 9th Reims (1894), 10th Paray-le-Monial (1897), 11th Brussels (1898), 12th Lourdes (1899), 13th Angers (1901), 14th Namur (1902), 15th Angoulême (1905), 16th Rome (1905), 17th Tournai (1906), 18th Metz (1907), 19th London (1908), 20th Cologne (1909), 21st Montréal (1910), 22nd Madrid (1911), 23rd Vienna (1912), 24th Malta (1913), 25th Lourdes (1914). The series was interrupted because of the world war and resumed with the 26th in Rome (1922), the 27th in Amsterdam (1924), the 28th in Chicago (1926), the 29th in Sydney (1928), the 30th in Carthage (1930), the 31st in Dublin (1932), the 32nd in Buenos Ayres (1934), the 33rd in Manila (1937), and the 34th in Budapest (1938). Because of the Second World War, the celebration of the 35th, which was to have been held in Nice, was suspended.
The Supreme Pontiff ordinarily presides over the proceedings of the e. c. after 1893 through the person of a legate a latere, who is surrounded by cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and thousands of priests. Congress participants arrive on pilgrimage from all Catholic nations to attend the sessions and those liturgical functions and processions celebrated during the congress to foster the piety and fervor of those assembled. Without mentioning others, it is enough to recall the success of the latest international e. c., especially those of Buenos Ayres and Budapest, presided over by the then Cardinal Pacelli as legate of Pius XI.
The complex organizational work is entrusted to an executive committee established in the city hosting the e. c. It receives general directives from the International Committee for e. c., but, through various commissions respectively charged with spiritual preparation, publicity and the press, transportation and accommodation, etc., it carries out the specific program of the organization according to its own initiatives. It extends its network throughout all Catholic countries through the cooperation of the episcopate and the activity of the permanent national committees. These committees promote the participation of congress members from their respective nations, organize the national sections of the congress, and foster the spiritual participation of their own nation in the congress.
The duration of an e. c. is normally five days. In Italy, only ten years after the Congress of Lille did the Work of e. c. take firm root, encouraged and blessed in this country as well by Leo XIII. The following national e. c. have been held to date: 1st Naples (1891), 2nd Turin (1894), 3rd Milan (1895), 4th Orvieto (1896), 5th Venice (1897), 6th Bergamo (1920), 7th Genoa (1923), 8th Palermo (1924), 9th Bologna (1927), 10th Loreto (1930), 11th Teramo (1935), 12th Tripoli (1937). The 13th, already being prepared in Pompeii, was suspended because of the Second World War.
As can be seen, 23 full years elapsed between the 5th and 6th. The cause was the lack of a stable national organization that could serve as the driving center of the movement. But almost as compensation for this deficiency, local congresses began to be held in various places, encouraged by the religious revival resulting from the reforms of Pius X and by the numerous clergy gatherings increasingly promoted by the Work of Priests Adorers, which, founded in France by Blessed Eymard, also spread to Italy.
It was precisely on the occasion of the First National Congress of Priests Adorers, held in Rome in 1913, that the Italian Permanent Committee for e. c. was established. Its first president was Msgr. Antonio Padovani, auxiliary bishop of Cremona, who drew up its first statutes, approved by the Holy See in February 1914. This committee has its general secretary in Rome, at the mother house of the Congregation of the Most Blessed Sacrament, to which it is entrusted. Diocesan delegates for Eucharistic works, appointed by the committee on the proposal of the bishops, serve as the liaison between the committee itself and the dioceses. - Vedi tav. XVII.
For the national congresses: The First National Eucharistic Congress in Naples, Naples 1891; Proceedings of the Eucharistic Congress of Turin, Turin 1895; Eucharistic Congress of Orvieto, Orvieto 1896; Eucharistic Congress of Venice, Venice 1897; Sixth National Eucharistic Congress in Bergamo, Bergamo 1920; Proceedings of the Seventh National Eucharistic Congress of Genoa, Genoa 1923; Proceedings of the Eighth National Eucharistic Congress of Palermo, Palermo 1925; Proceedings of the Tenth National Eucharistic Congress of Loreto, Recanati 1930; The Eucharistic Congress of Tripoli, Tripoli 1937; Proceedings of the Eleventh National Eucharistic Congress in Teramo, Teramo 1938. Bartolomeo Spini