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