Maundy Thursday, Maun day Thursday

The Thursday in Pa ion-week, the day next before Good-Friday, when it was formerly the custom for of as many poor men and women as they were years the kings and queens of England to wash the feet old, and afterward give hem meat and clothes. This ceremony is now obsolete, but on Maundy Thursday the king's or queen's almoner distributes to as many poor men and women as the sovereign is years old certain coins called Maundy-money, consisting of a silver four-penny piece, a threepenny piece, a two-penny piece, and a penny piece. The name is derived from the anthem which was sung during the ceremony, and which began with the words Mandatum novum (John xiii. 34), the notion being that the washing of the feet was a fulfilling of this command. "During the ceremony was sung the anthem, 'A new command I give to you, that ye love one another,' whence, as it began with the Latin word mandatum, the day was the A. S. Church, i. 99. called Maunday-Thursday."-Lingard: Hist. and Antiq. of