Maundy Thursday

The Thursday before Easter, so called from Christ's command (Lat. mandatum) that His disciples should love one another (John 13:34). In fourth-century Jerusalem there were special services at the [[Mount of Olives]] and Gethsemane, and in [[North Africa]] an evening Eucharist commemorating the [[Last Supper]]. By the sixth century in the West, the Blessing of Oils and the Reconciliation of Penitents took place on this day, and by the [[Middle Ages]] the stripping and washing of altars and the pedilavium (foot-washing) were added. The latter ceremony was sometimes performed by sovereigns, and the modern English Royal Maundy Service is a modified survival of this. At Mass, the [[Kiss of Peace]] was omitted in commemoration of Judas's kiss.