Maundy Money

Their faces gleaming from soap & water, their hair scrupulously combed, 67 flushed old men and 67 excited old women waited in the transepts of Westminster Abbey last week. The organ groaned magnificently. Down the aisle stalked a scarlet-&-gold Yeoman of the Guard bearing on his head a solid gold platter piled high with purses of scarlet and white leather. Behind the Yeoman walked King George, Queen Mary and the King's Almoner, the Very Rev. J. Armitage Robinson whose other duties include the Deanship of Wells Cathedral.

It was Maundy Thursday.* King George was reviving one of Britain's oldest customs, the distribution by the King himself of Maundy Money to worthy old people of the Parish of Westminster, a custom established by Edward III in 1363 in commemoration of Jesus' washing the disciples' feet after the Last Supper. Jesus of Nazareth performed the original pedilavium stripped, girded in a towel. Even the early Plantagenets kept their clothes on and no British King has washed any feet for centuries. The money, which comes from the King's privy purse, has been distributed every year by Abbey clergy. No King has taken part in the ceremony since James II died more than 200 years ago.

At last week's revival, King George washed no feet, wore no towel. Only survival of the pedilavium ritual was the towel-like sash of linen worn by the King's Almoner. King George in the costume of an English gentleman handed each of the 67 men and 67 women (one of each for each year of his age) a scarlet purse containing -L-2 108 in gold, to take the place of the new clothing they are supposed to receive, and a white purse containing 67d in specially minted silver coins. At the week's end the recipients had much more than their -L-2 153 7d to spend. Much of the Maundy money was promptly sold to numismatists at a large premium. A few Left Wing Laborites objected vigorously to the whole ceremony. Westminster Abbey in the city of Westminster at the present time contains Westminster School, the Houses of Parliament, the Government offices, Scotland Yard and a number of elegant mansions along St. James's Park. Deserving poor are almost as rare in Westminster as in John P. Morgan's block in Manhattan (see p. 24).

Celebration of Maundy Thursday was not limited to King George. In the Vatican Pope Pius washed the feet of twelve foreign priests. Most Italian priests per: formed a pedilavium in their own dioceses. In Fontainebleau Alfonso XIII announced that for the first time since his coronation he would wash no feet. Said he: "Because I am on French soil, I will observe Easter in accordance with French customs, attending Church as a simple worshiper."

* Maundy, from the Middle English Maunde, the Latin Mandatum, means a command, refers to the "new commandment," John, 13:14-15'. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

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