On
Maundy Thursday the 28th of March 2002 H.M. Queen
Elizabeth II accompanied by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh
came to Canterbury Cathedral for the traditional Maundy
Thursday Service. This was the second occasion that the
Service has been held in Canterbury Cathedral and is of
special interest to our parish because one of the
recipients of the Royal Maundy was Jane Sadler, a member
of All Saints congregation.
H.M.
Queen Elizabeth II and H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh
arrive
in Canterbury
The
Distribution of Alms and the washing of the feet on the
Thursday of Holy Week are of great antiquity. The Maundy
can be traced back in England with certainty to the
twelfth century, and there are continuous records of the
Distribution having been made on Maundy Thursday from the
reign of King Edward I.
The
Service derives its name from the Latin word mandatum,
meaning a commandment, and its opening words are;
‘Jesus said: “I give you a new
commandment.”’.
From
the fifteenth century the number of recipients has been
related to the years of the Sovereign's life. At one time
recipients were required to be of the same sex as the
Sovereign, but since the eighteenth century they have
numbered as many men and women as the Sovereign has years
of age. Recipients are now pensioners selected because of
the Christian Service they have rendered to the Church
and the community. The Distribution is in two parts, and
the gifts which are handed to the recipients are symbolic
and highly prized.
The
red purse contains an allowance for clothing and
provisions formerly given in kind and a payment for the
redemption of the royal gown. The white purse contains in
Maundy coins silver pennies, twopences, threepences and
fourpences, as many pence as the Sovereign has years of
age. Maundy coins are legal tender, and when the United
Kingdom changed to decimal currency in 1971, the face
value of a set of four coins became 10 new pence, instead
of 10d in the old £sd system.
The
five alms dishes used for the Distribution date from the
reign of King Charles II. The traditional Maundy Dish is
part of the Regalia, and bears the cipher of William and
Mary. The pair of Dishes known as the Fish Dishes, one
seawater the other freshwater, were once part of the
Chapel Royal Plate. The Fish Dishes were first used in a
Maundy Service at Tewskesbury in 1971. The fourth dish
was first used at Bristol in 1999 and has a crowned rose
in the centre and a wide border within a flower and
leafage motif, a horse, a bull, a boar and a stag. The
fifth dish being used for the first time has a central
sun motif, engraved with the Royal Stuart Arms in garter
motto with Prince’s coronet at the top.
The
four Children of Royal Almonry have been selected from
two schools within the City of Canterbury, one who is a
son of a Wandsmen and the other a granddaughter of the
Head Wandsmen. They represent men who used to attend the
Chapels Royal in earlier centuries to assist in the first
washing ceremony.
The
Chapel Royal Choir which takes part in this Service has a
notable musical history and remains a distinctive part of
the Royal establishment. That it sang at Agincourt and
that it was present as “The Field of the Cloth of
Gold” indicates the place it took in the royal
entourage.
Though
the act of washing the feet seems to have been
discontinued about 1730, the Lord High Almoner and his
assistants are still girded with linen towels in
remembrance, and carry the traditional nosegays of sweet
herbs. Some of the linen worn in this Service has been
used annually since 1883.
The
Queen’s Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard (the
“Indoor Guard”) also plays an important part in
the Service. It is the oldest Military Corps now
existing, having been created in 1485 by King Henry VII.
In
earlier times the Ceremony was observed wherever the
Sovereign was in residence. For many years the Maundy
Gifts were distributed in the old Chapel Royal (now the
Banqueting Hall) in Whitehall, but from 1890 to 1952 the
Service was held at Westminster Abbey. During the present
Reign the Service has been held at Westminster Abbey on
fifteen occasions.