Corpus Christi Day is Thursday Published June 16, 2011 By Petra Lessoing 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- Thursday is a religous holiday, "Fronleichnam," or Corpus Christi Day. Roman-Catholics in Germany and Europe celebrate the church fest, which is observed 10 days after Pentecost. In some but not all German states, Fronleichnam is an official holiday. Stores, banks and official institutions are closed in Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Baden-Würrtemberg, Hessen, Bayern, in some communities in Saxony and Thüringen and in areas with a mainly Catholic population. The word Fronleichnam derives from old German and corresponds to the Latin word "Corpus Domini," Body of the Lord. In 1264, Pope Urban IV ordered the entire Catholic Church to observe the feast of Corpus Christi. The fest commemorates Christ's Last Supper the day before he died. It honors the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Today, the church holiday is a colorful event which includes solemn processions through the streets, which are decorated with flowers, little birch trees and church banners. Four altars will be set up on the procession route to symbolize the four stops of Christ's way to the cross, known as the "Stations of the Cross." A priest will lead the procession and carry the Holy of Holies under a baldachin. Then the ministrants, communion children of that year and worshippers will follow. At the altars, the procession will stop and participants say a prayer. The procession will be accompanied by singing and usually ends at a church or a public place, where an open-air worship service will be conducted.