Maundy Thursday

Peter J. Leithart, April 08, 2004

The Westminster Dictionary of Worship has this explanation for the name Maundy Thursday: "The title for Thursday in Holy Week derives through Old French mande from the Latin 'mandatum novum,' 'a new commandment' (John 13:34), associated with the ceremonial washing of feet, which is still continued in some token form in Rome. The English distribution of Maundy money by the sovereign was a vestigial trace of this."