Lessons on rest straight from the Arctic
Holy Week includes Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday, but there's an equally significant date observed on the Christian calendar this time of year that's little understood: Maundy Thursday. The origins of Maundy Thursday date back to antiquity, identified by ancient rituals and symbolism. The date is also marked by a monetary tradition that first found currency in the Middle Ages. So, what exactly does Maundy Thursday commemorate, and how is it celebrated?
Click through and discover more about this fifth day of the Holy Week.
"Maundy" derives from the Latin word mandatum, meaning "command," and this word is the origin of the English "mandate."
In Western Christianity, the Mass of the Lord's Supper is observed in commemoration of Jesus Christ's institution of the Eucharist, or Holy Communion, during the Last Supper. It's a service of worship normally held on Maundy Thursday evening.
In the United States and most European countries, Maundy Thursday is also known as Holy Thursday.
Maundy Thursday is the fifth day of the Holy Week—the Thursday before Easter. It commemorates the Washing of the Feet (Maundy) and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles.
Mandatum reflects Jesus' words from the New Testament: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another,"— (John 13:34).
The mandatum in John 13:3 refers to the commandment of Christ that believers should emulate his loving humility in the washing of the feet. This religious rite, the Maundy, takes place during the Mass of the Lord's Supper and is practiced by many Christian denominations including the Anglican/Protestant Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic traditions.
Additionally, it's sometimes referred to as Green Thursday (Gründonnerstag; common in Germany) either for the early medieval practice of wearing green vestments for Mass that day, or of giving penitents a green branch as a token for completing their Lenten penance.
Sheer Thursday is another name for Maundy Thursday; Sheer (meaning blameless, clear) is an allusion to the purification of the soul by confession on that day. It can also refer to the ceremonial washing of altars.
Maundy Thursday initiates the Paschal Triduum (Easter Triduum), the period which commemorates the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
This period begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday. It includes Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and ends on the evening of Easter Sunday.
Maundy Thursday's commemoration of the Last Supper brings together Christian denominations who observe this day by universally celebrating the sacrament of the Holy Communion—Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples during Passover.
The container designed to hold the holy oils—chrism (myrrh), oil of catechumens, and oil of the sick—is called a chrismatory.
The Chrism Mass, a religious service held in Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism, is held on the morning of Maundy Thursday. The Mass takes its name from the blessing of the holy oils used in the sacraments throughout the year. Depicted is a Chrism Mass taking place in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome.
The practice of washing feet is found in the hospitality customs of ancient civilizations. A host would provide water for guests to wash their feet, or perhaps provide a servant to undertake the task for them.
The wearing of sandals—the most commonly used footwear in antiquity—necessitated the regular cleansing of the feet.
The ritual of washing feet is mentioned in several places throughout the Old Testament of the Bible, for example: "And she arose and bowed herself down with her face to the earth, and said: 'Behold, let thy servant be a handmaid, to wash the feet of the servants of my lord'" — (Samuel 25:14). This is the first biblical passage where an honored person offers to wash feet as a sign of humility.
Elsewhere in Europe, Maundy Thursday was observed by monarchs—some of whom actually washed the feet of their subjects—but the ceremony did not include the handing out of coins. Seen here is João V of Portugal, performing the rite at Ribeira Palace in Lisbon, in 1748.
By the 5th century CE, the ceremony practiced by church leaders of washing the feet of the poor after Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday was well established. And it was a ritual not lost on medieval European monarchs.
This act of charity later included the distribution to those in poverty of a few pennies, a custom introduced by King Edward I in the mid-13th century.
In England, the ceremony of washing feet on Maundy Thursday extended to the offering by a monarch of gifts, or alms, to the needy. The first English monarch to be recorded as distributing symbolic alms at a Maundy service was King John, who on April 15, 1210 donated garments, food, and other material goods to the poor.
In 1882, Maundy coins were introduced. These were small, specially minted silver coins that replaced the material goods previously handed out by the Royal Household. They were distributed by the Royal Almonry, the office responsible for the issuing of alms to the poor. The illustration shows Maundy money being distributed at a ceremony in Whitehall, London, in the mid-19th century.
Royal Maundy money is distributed in red and white purses. The red purse contains regular currency and is given in place of food and clothing. The white purse has money in the amount of one penny for each year of the Sovereign's age.
Pictured: the late British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, hands out Maundy money to pensioners at the Royal Maundy Service at Derby Cathedral in 2010. The service at which the ceremony takes place rotates around different churches and cathedrals.
Until the death of King James II in 1701, it was also customary in England for a monarch to wash the feet of selected poor people.
The then Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall pictured attending the Royal Maundy Service at St George's Chapel on April 14, 2022 in Windsor, England. The royal couple were representing the Queen. With Elizabeth II's death on September 8 of that year, King Charles will now officiate over the centuries-old ceremony.
Pictured: Pope Francis leading the Holy Chrism Mass on Maundy Thursday at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican in 2022.
The late Pope Benedict XVI attends the Mass of the Lord's Supper in Rome's Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in 2008.
Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, carries out the rite of the washing of the feet at Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in 1998.
Maundy Thursday falls always between March 19 and April 22 inclusive, and will vary according to whether the Gregorian calendar or the Julian calendar is used. The Julian calendar was established in 46 BCE by Julius Caesar. The Gregorian calendar was instituted in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII to reform the Julian calendar. Pictured is an 18th-century brass perpetual calendar which was used for determining the dates of Easter in the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
The origins and traditions of Maundy Thursday/Holy Thursday
What is so special about the fifth day of Holy Week?
LIFESTYLE Religion
Holy Week includes Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday, but there's an equally significant date observed on the Christian calendar this time of year that's little understood: Maundy Thursday. The origins of Maundy Thursday date back to antiquity, identified by ancient rituals and symbolism. The date is also marked by a monetary tradition that first found currency in the Middle Ages. So, what exactly does Maundy Thursday commemorate, and how is it celebrated?
Click through and discover more about this fifth day of the Holy Week.