Mass of the Lord's Supper
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Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
celebrated on the evening of Holy Thursday. It inaugurates the Easter Triduum
Easter Triduum
Easter Triduum, Holy Triduum, or Paschal Triduum is the period of three days that begins with the Mass of the Lord's Supper on the evening of Maundy Thursday and ends with evening prayer on Easter Sunday...
, and commemorates the Last Supper
Last Supper
The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...
of Jesus with his disciples
Apostle (Christian)
The term apostle is derived from Classical Greek ἀπόστολος , meaning one who is sent away, from στέλλω + από . The literal meaning in English is therefore an "emissary", from the Latin mitto + ex...
, more explicitly than other celebrations of the Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
.
Many Anglican
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
churches celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper (or the Proper Liturgy of Maundy Thursday). Depending on the jurisdiction, these rites are found in the Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
, the Anglican Missal
Anglican Missal
The Anglican Missal is a liturgical book often used at Mass by Anglo-Catholics and other High Church Anglicans instead of the Book of Common Prayer.-History:...
or an alternative service book.
The Mass stresses three aspects of that event: "the institution of the Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, the institution of the priesthood
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
, and the commandment
The New Commandment
The New Commandment refers to the admonition given by Jesus to His Twelve Apostles at the Last Supper, as recorded in the Gospel of John :According to the Synoptic Gospels, a similar thought was expressed by Jesus two days previously when He spoke at the Temple in Jerusalem and quoted what is...
of brotherly love that Jesus gave after washing the feet of his disciples."
Structure
The Mass begins as usual, with the exception that the tabernacleChurch tabernacle
A tabernacle is the fixed, locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is "reserved" . A less obvious container, set into the wall, is called an aumbry....
, wherever placed, should be empty.
In the 1962 Missal (Roman rite), although white vestments and the Gloria in Excelsis are used, this is still Passiontide, so the "Judica me" is omitted at the foot of the altar, the "Gloria Patri" in the Introit and at the end of the Lavabo is omitted, and the Preface of the Cross is used. (The crucifixes, which have been covered during Passiontide, can today be covered with white instead of with violet.)
At the singing of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo
Gloria in Excelsis Deo
"Gloria in excelsis Deo" is the title and beginning of a hymn known also as the Greater Doxology and the Angelic Hymn. The name is often abbreviated to Gloria in Excelsis or simply Gloria.It is an example of the psalmi idiotici "Gloria in excelsis Deo" (Latin for "Glory to God in the highest")...
, all the church bells may be rung; afterwards, they (along with the organ) are silenced until the Gloria of the Easter Vigil
Easter Vigil
The Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of Easter, is a service held in many Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this service that people are baptized and that adult catechumens are received into...
.
The Liturgy of the Word consists of the following readings:
- Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14, a description of the original PassoverPassoverPassover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
celebration. - Psalm 115 (116), thanksgiving for being saved, Paul the Apostle's account of what Jesus did at his Last SupperLast SupperThe Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...
, John the EvangelistJohn the EvangelistSaint John the Evangelist is the conventional name for the author of the Gospel of John...
's account of how Jesus washed his disciples' feet before that meal as an example of how they should treat each other.
Chasuble
The chasuble is the outermost liturgical vestment worn by clergy for the celebration of the Eucharist in Western-tradition Christian Churches that use full vestments, primarily in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches, as well as in some parts of the United Methodist Church...
, puts on a linen gremiale
Gremiale
A gremiale, sometimes anglicized as gremial, is a square or oblong cloth which a bishop, according to the "Cæremoniale Episcoporum" and "Pontificale", should wear over his lap, when seated on the throne during the singing of the Kyrie, Gloria and Credo by the choir, during the distribution of...
(an amice
Amice
The amice is a liturgical vestment used mainly in the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, in some Anglican churches, Armenian and Polish National Catholic churches. It consists of a white cloth connected to two long ribbon-like attachments, by which it is fastened around the shoulders of the...
is often used for this purpose), and proceeds to wash the feet of a number of people (usually twelve, corresponding to the number of the Apostles)
There are special formulas in the Eucharistic Prayer to recall that the Mass of the Lord's Supper is in commemoration of Jesus' Last Supper.
Sufficient hosts are consecrated for the faithful to receive Communion both at that Mass and on the next day. The hosts intended for the Good Friday service are not placed in the tabernacle, as is usual, but are left on the altar, while the priests says the postcommunion
Postcommunion
Postcommunion is the text said or sung on a reciting tone following the Communion of the Mass.-Form:Every Postcommunion corresponds to a collect. These are the three fundamental prayers of any given Proper Mass. The Postcommunion is said or chanted exactly like the Collect...
prayer. Then the priest incenses the Blessed Sacrament three times and, taking a humeral veil
Humeral veil
The humeral veil is one of the liturgical vestments of the Roman Rite, also used in some Anglican and Lutheran churches. It consists of a piece of cloth about 2.75 m long and 90 cm wide draped over the shoulders and down the front, normally of silk or cloth of gold...
with which to hold it, carries it in solemn procession to a place of reservation somewhere in the church or in an appropriately adorned chapel. The procession is led by a cross-bearer accompanied by two servers with lighted candles; other servers with lighted candles follow and a thurifer immediately precedes the priest.
On arrival at the place of reposition, the priest places the vessel with the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle there, leaving the door open. He then incenses it and closes the tabernacle door. After a period of adoration, he and the servers depart in silence.
The continuation of Eucharistic adoration is encouraged, but if continued after midnight should be done without outward solemnity.The Blessed Sacrament remains in the temporary place until the Holy Communion part of the Good Friday liturgical service.
Stripping of the Altar
At a suitable time after the Mass of the Lord's Supper the altar is stripped without ceremony, and crosses in the church are removed or covered. All altars are stripped except the Altar of Repose. (In the 1962 missal, such stripping is the last ceremony in the Holy Thursday service. If white crucifix covers were used, they are then replaced with the usual violet ones for crucifixes remaining in the church on Good Friday.)History
The celebration of a Mass in the evening of Holy Thursday began in late fourth-century Jerusalem, where it became customary to celebrate the events of the PassionPassion (Christianity)
The Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering – physical, spiritual, and mental – of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion...
of Jesus in the places where they took place. In Rome at that time a Mass was celebrated at which penitents were reconciled with a view to participation in the Easter celebrations. The Jerusalem custom spread and in seventh-century Rome the Pope celebrated a Mass of the Lord's Supper on this day as well as the Mass of Reconciliation. By the eighth century, the Masses became three: one for reconciliation, one for blessing the holy oils and a third for the Last Supper. The last two were in reduced form, being without Liturgy of the Word. Pope Pius V
Pope Pius V
Pope Saint Pius V , born Antonio Ghislieri , was Pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Catholic Church. He is chiefly notable for his role in the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation, and the standardization of the Roman liturgy within the Latin Church...
's reforms in 1570 forbade the celebration of Mass after noon, and the Mass of the Lord's Supper became a morning Mass and remained so until Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
's reforms in the 1950s.
The washing of feet that is now part of the Mass of the Lord's Supper was in use at an early stage without relation to this particular day, and was first prescribed for use on Holy Thursday by a 694 Council of Toledo. By the twelfth century it was found in the Roman liturgy as a separate service. Pope Pius V included this rite in his Roman Missal, placing it after the text of the Mass of the Lord's Supper. He did not make it part of the Mass, but indicated that it was to take place "at a suitable hour" after the stripping of the altars. The 1955 revision by Pope Pius XII inserted the rite into the Mass.