Bicentenary

Maundy Thursday: washing of the feet

Thursday, April 8, 1852

            The eternal Word, the Son of God, seated in the highest heavens, moves, rules and governs all that is most sublime and most evil, the most powerful and the weakest, in the heavens and in the depths of the earth; girds himself with a towel and kneeling at the feet of twelve poor and simple men, of lower class, uncouth

people, washes their feet: He rises, sits again at the table and says to them: “I have come not to be served, but to be your servant. Do you know what I have done? You call me Master and Lord, and so I am. If I, being your Master and Lord, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet; I have given you an example, so that you may do what you have seen me do.”

Tomorrow at 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon, sharp, will begin the washing of the feet as prescribed for the ceremonies of the Church; after singing the Gospel, the director of the School, girded with towel, will wash the feet of the twelve representatives of the twelve groups of pupils. The sermon on the Last Supper will follow

this act, preached by the same person who washed the feet of his pupils.           

The director of the School, Fr. Francisco Palau, priest