Washing feet

            Washing feet or pedilavium is a sacrament[1] based on the account in John 13 v14–17 when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples[2] at the beginning of the Last Supper. It accompanies the instruction from Jesus to wash one another’s feet. That has caused various interpretations,[3] including a baptism solely of the twelve disciples, to an instruction to go out and baptise others and to a symbolic way of welcoming pilgrims. There is a fourth practical interpretation evident in the Old Testament in which walking in sandals on dusty roads of the first century made it necessary for feet to be washed before a  meal, especially where people sat at a low table and feet were in evidence. When Jesus began to wash the feet of the disciples he was doing the work of the lowliest of servants; it was an act of humility. This wide range of interpretations has determined how it has been enacted.

            Foot washing in some form is thought to have continued in the early centuries of post-apostolic Christianity but the evidence is sparse. It has been argued foot-washing was the prime way for sanctification and Christian initiation in the first century.[4] Tertullian mentioned Jesus ‘proffered the basin for the feet of His disciples’ in his De Corona, written around 201. Foot washing and drying often followed baptism.[5] It was mentioned in the controversial Synod of Elvira, c. 305–6, in southern Spain with the instruction ‘the feet of the newly baptized are not to be washed by the priests or clerics’ (and receive payment).  It was practiced by the Church of Milan c. 380 and mentioned in The Rule of Saint Augustine, c. 400. According to St Benedict’s Rule written in 516, Chapter 53 stated hospitality feet-washing is encouraged in addition to a communal feet-washing for humility. Bede in the Life of St. Cuthbert, 699–705, wrote Cuthbert would keep his shoes on from one Easter to another, only taking them off on account of the washing of feet, which took place at the Lord ‘s Supper.  Bede in Historia Ecclesiastica[6] tells how Æthelthryth was a queen of the East Angles who became an abbess in the district of Ely. She would seldom take a hot bath, except before the great feasts of Easter, Pentecost and Epiphany, and then after all the nuns had washed themselves, assisted by her and her attendants. In The life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus,[7] 712–4, Wilfrid made it his custom to wash during the night hours, winter and summer alike, with blessed and holy water. The common thread is an act of washing; a spiritual cleansing. Bede clearly stated the washing of feet implied the spiritual purification of body and soul.[8]

It is the same for baptism and links to the ritual introduced by John the Baptist at Al-Maghtas on the east bank of the river Jordan (John 1, v28) and in a pool at Ænon, near Salim (John 3, v23). Bede described how Peada, son of Penda, was baptised by Bishop Finan, together with all his companions and thegns.[9]  Cuthbert was travelling along the Teviot River teaching the country people and baptizing them. Bede stated Chad travelled on foot across the country devoted to the task of keeping the church in truth and purity.[10] He was following the tradition of his teacher Aidan and his elder brother Cedd, both keen on baptizing. The traditional view has been missionaries believed their prime mission was to encourage people to be baptised and that is how Bede perceived the sacrament even though he was somewhat apathetic to using a river. The lack of any surviving liturgy for baptism and foot-washing in the pre-Viking Conquest period in England is a hindrance to knowing how it was undertaken. There is an aspect that could improve our understanding. Around 23 tanks have been found, many having Christian symbols, which are believed to be portable and could well have been used for baptism or foot washing. The Walesby tank from Lincolnshire shows a scene that has been interpreted as a baptism, but not everyone agrees.

Drawing of the Ashton Tank, Northamptonshire. It has been estimated to have held 220 litres (6 gallons) of water. Made of three layers of lead sheet, it would not have been easy to move around.

 

 Foot-washing on Maundy Thursday (John 13, v 1–17) was first recorded in Rome by the pope washing the feet of his attendants and mentioned in the third canon of the 17th Council of Toledo, Spain, in 694.[11]  In 992, Bishop Oswald of Worcester died during its performance. It was mentioned in the late 12th-century when the pope washed the feet of twelve sub-deacons after his Mass and of thirteen poor men after his dinner.[12] In the Middle Ages, English monarchs washed the feet of beggars in imitation of Jesus, and presented gifts and money to the poor. Over time, additional money was substituted for the clothing and other items that had once been distributed. Maundy Thursday became two observances of pedilavium and alms-giving. Beginning in 1699 the monarch did not attend the service, sending an official instead. The royal connection was continued for a time in England after the Reformation but ended in the Church of England in 1754.

 Pedilavium at Lichfield Cathedral presumably started with the local stream. The first cathedral, 669 onwards, was close to a stream, now the Curborough Brook. Around 50 m distance separated the original water-course[13] and the nave shrine chapel revealed in 2003. Bede, recorded the mass baptisms of Paulinus in the Rivers Glen and Swale and clearly considered river baptism to be an improvised arrangement, which he excused by claiming the church had not been able to build any oratoria uel baptisteria (oratory or baptistery).[14]^,[15] Chad had his own oratory. If the early cathedral used the river for a sacrament, there is no evidence for the rite continuing into the 8th-century. The power of devotion in an external water was repeated by Leland, mid-16th century, who claimed ‘some say Chad was wont to stand naked in the water (at Stowe?) and pray’.[16]

 

View of vestibule in J. Britton, 1820¹⁶

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Views of vestibule today

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    Lichfield had the earliest set of statutes and ordinances (constitutions of the chapter) known for any English cathedral. It was originally drawn up for the new foundation at Coventry, but also applied to Lichfield. The original, now lost, was always thought to have been the work of Bishop Hugh Nonant in 1191, but this has been disproved.[17] The statutes, probably drawn up by the Dean and Chapter for the Bishop, listed two observances on Maundy Thursday. The first was a distribution of bread-cakes and wine or ale to the poor and the second was the washing of feet in the choir area (a vestibule was not yet built).

The vestibule is today set out for this Maundy liturgy, though large attendance causes it to be held in the nave. The vestibule to the Chapter House was added with a door cut through the north quire wall,[18] third bay, by raising the sill of a window above, 1230–40. It has fourteen arcades, with the end one blocked, each with a seat for the foot washed and a space behind for a witness. Whether or not the vestibule was built for pedilavium is uncertain; fourteen arcades indicates not and it is someway from an altar or font, or entrance door for pilgrims,[19] but it is one of the outstanding features of the cathedral.[20] A winding staircase at the vestibule's south-east corner gives access to an upper storey, later an annexe to a library over the chapter house. The room, known in 1896 as St Peter’s Chapel, has an unknown origin, but a private Bishop’s chapel has been conjectured. Jacob Epstein’s bronze bust of Bishop Edward Woods, 1958, was first placed in the north choir aisle and later moved to the end of the vestibule in 1989. A Royal Maundy was held in 1985.

[1] Frequently the word is used to label the location where the rite of foot washing occurs and that is misunderstanding.

[2] 1 Timothy 5, v 10 mentions the washing of the feet of saints.

[3] J. Hunwick, Pedilavium or foot washing: such a wealth of different meanings. Online at http://liturgicalnotes.blogspot.com/2017/04/pedilavium-or-foot-washing-such-wealth.html

[4] M. F. Connell,  'Nisi Pedes, Except for the Feet: Footwashing in the Community of John's Gospel,' Worship, (1996),  70, 524.

[5] The Bobbio Missal and the Stowe Missal, both Celtic, include foot washing after immersion in the font. There are texts used in Gaul which have this. Ambrose in Milan did likewise.

[6] Book 4, Chapter 19. See J. McClure and R. Collins, Bede. The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. (Oxford: 2008), 203.

[7] B. Colgrave, The life of Bishop Wilfrid by Eddius Stephanus. (Cambridge: 1927), Chapter 21, 44–5.

[8] Bede: Homily II.5, CCSL 122, p 216-7. See Bede and D. Hurst, Homilies on the Gospels: Lent to the dedication of the Church. (Trappist, Kentucky: 1991), 46–7.

[9] HE book 3, Chapter 21. J. McClure and R. Collins, (2008), 144.

[10] HE book 3, Chapter 28. J. McClure and R. Collins, (2008), 164.

[11] J. Monti, The Week of Salvation: History and Traditions of Holy Week (Huntington, Indiana.: 1993), 110.

[12] C. Herbermann, ‘Washing of Feet and Hands’, Catholic Encyclopaedia. (New York: 1913).

[13] Determined by the archaeological dig led by Martin Carver. See M. O. H. Carver, 'Excavations south of Lichfield Cathedral, 1976--1977'. South Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society Transactions, 1980--1981, (1982), 22, 35--69.

[14] N. Mayhew-Smith, ‘Nature rituals of the early medieval church in Britain’. Unpub. thesis, Dept. of Humanities, Univ. of Roehampton. (2017), 21.

[15] This is the only reference in Anglo-Saxon England to a baptismal church. See J. Blair (2005), 70.

[16] J. Leland and L. Toulmin Smith, Leland's Itinerary in England and Wales. In or about the years 1535-1543 parts 4 and 5 · Volume 2 (Southern Illinois: 964), 99.

[17] This date was worked out by H. E. Savage and became an address to the cathedral in 1920, entitled, The earliest Statutes of the Cathedral. Unpub. article in cathedral library. The statutes were revised in 1526 and printed by W. Dugdale in 1673, Monasticum Anglicanum vol. 3, 1255–7 and again by D. Wilkins in 1737, Concilia, i, 501. For disproof of Nonant’s part in the statutes see M. J. Franklin, ‘Nonant, Hugh de (d. 1198)’. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. (Oxford: 2004). 

[18] it is possible that it was originally planned to have the entrance to the Chapter House in the north transept but that this scheme was abandoned to avoid interfering with St. Stephen's altar and the grave of Bishop Pattishall.

[19] J. Britton, The history and antiquities of the See and cathedral church of Lichfield. (London: 1820), 43, suggests the vestibule with its thirteen arches might have received the thirteen minor canons or priest- vicars belonging to the cathedral. The opposite side of the vestibule has eight niches, or spaces between the columns, and suited to receive the eight choristers.

[20] M. W. Greenslade and R. B. Pugh (eds.) 'House of secular canons - Lichfield cathedral: To the Reformation', in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3, (London, 1970), 140–166.

Illumination

     Light is a symbol for Christians of holiness, wisdom, grace, hope, and God's revelation. Darkness has been associated with evil, sin, and despair. As Jesus said:

“I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life”.                                               John 8 v 12.

Before the 13th-century your thought could be given a new understanding with the intervention of God and this was described as an illumination. A divine light would provide revelation; it was supernatural. Slowly theologians changed this to grace; by the grace of God something was achieved. On occasion a lightbulb moment is still used to explain how someone has come to a new understanding. The common view now is the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through rational and analytical thought, measured experience and the senses. Christians would add that a spiritual understanding involves seeing the light in the form of Christ.

Candles lit for remembering Ukraine

Consequently, much that occurs in religion has a context of light. It was an important issue in the 7th-century. The Synod of Whitby settled several issues, especially the dating of Easter. It was established that at the Spring Equinox, falling on the 19, 20 or 21 March, the length of day equalled the length of night. At the first full moon that followed, the 24 hours for that day was filled with full moonlight and full sunlight (assuming no clouds) and thus light had overcome darkness. Easter was then the first Sunday to follow. This calculation, Computus, emphasised Jesus’s words. It was an important aspect for both Wilfrid and Bede. If Easter was the hope in resurrection then it needed much light.

Bede

            Early baptised Christians were known to have been illumined and Easter was the time for this life changing event. The apostle Paul wrote:

“For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost”.  Vulgate Hebrews 6 v 4.

In modern translations the word inluminati becomes enlightened and it has been questioned whether a light was physically present at baptism and instead is synonymous for understanding. Some think it likely those baptised were given a lighted taper in the way a candle is given today. The orthodox church presents it as with baptism you are illumined with the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. 

There is no evidence of any ceremonial use of lights in Christian worship during its first two or three centuries, which is unsurprising since it had to be a secretive religion.[1] There were Christian practices occurring in some of the catacombs and for this purpose small terra-cotta lamps, plain or decorated with Christian symbols, were used, as is attested by the numerous discoveries in the catacombs.

 

St Paul’s catacomb in Malta where an agape meal was held on a stone table close to tombs. The tombs had wall niches which would have held an oil or fat burning lamp. Christian signs were scratched on the walls and the one shown is thought to have been 4th or 5th century. It could be a trident and symbolising the Trinity.

     With the Romans accepting Christianity as their religion in the 4th-century new well-lit churches were built. A 4th century inventory of items in the church of Cirta, in Algeria, listed 7 silver lamps, two chandeliers, 7 small brass candelabra with lamps and 11 lamps with chains. Lamps were beginning to be used in large churches in the early 4th century.[2]  Constantine I gave to the Archbasilica of the St John Lateran Church, Rome, two sets of seven 10 ft bronze candelabra with as many as 120 dolphin-shaped branches, each supporting one or more lamps.[3] When Constantine's body lay in state, lighted candles on golden stands were placed around it.

Paschal candle lit either in the late Saturday or early Easter Sunday morning service. It is also used for lighting baptismal candles.

     Sometime after 630, a change in furnishing the church occurred in the Atlantic Isles. A rough timber oratory changed into a rectangular stone church, with either a square or round apse. Stonework might have been intricately sculpted and the floor was tiled. On the walls were paintings. Windows were glazed. Wooden and stone crosses were replaced with detailed icons made from precious metals and jewels. They were now placed on an altar covered in embroidered cloth. Standing crosses with biblical scenes were erected at meeting places. Books were illustrated and pages painted artistically with colourful pigments. Libraries were commissioned. Bishops wore elaborate garments and used superior liturgical objects of value. Singing and playing music was encouraged. If God was the light of the world, then the church would reflect his illumination. It also contrasted with dark pagan temples.

Aldhelm, Abbot of  Malmesbury and Biship of Sherborne, wrote a poem, 689–709, and described the church of St Mary built by Bugga, possibly his sister, and it gave an insight into a late 7^th century church. It was described as rectangular, lofty and with 12 altars. It glowed within with gentle light, presumably from oil lamps or bee’s wax candles. It had glass windows. The altar cloth glistened with gold twisted threads. A gold chalice had jewels attached and the paten was silver. A main cross was burnished gold and silver and had jewels attached. A metal censer embossed on all sides hung down by chains and through openings, it let out the smell of frankincense.

    

Choir stalls with candles and overhead electric lighting.

               

High altar candle.
Candles on the altar did not occur before the 12th-century.

            

     Eighth century Gospel books, such as St Chad’s Gospels, were illuminated. They had painted pages to illustrate symbolically parts of the Bible. Some hold such texts must be enhanced with gold and silver pigments which can reflect the light. The presence of such metals in the St Chad’s Gospels has still to be proved analytically, but if the Gospels follow the convention of the time they should be present.

             Having strong light in a church was essential for Gothic architecture. Large windows let in much light, especially shining on the altar. This has been traced to the greater use of the eucharist in worship. See the post on the Lady Chapel with large leaded-glass windows requiring new ways to buttress the wall. Also, the transepts when separate lancet windows changed to compound windows with fine tracery. Opening up the dark inner church, choir and presbytery, by G. Gilbert Scott in the 1850s by removing plaster between the columns and taking down the screen by the crossing was part of this move to lighten the cathedral. The triangular windows near the roof of the nave bring much light into the cathedral.

   

    The use of ceremonial candles was either greatly modified, or totally abolished with Reformation. Many Anglican churches still have two candles on the altar during the Eucharist and two candles either side of someone reading the Gospels. The use of candles in a funeral service commonly occurs. It could be argued having light-shows in and outside a cathedral continues this Christian desire to bring light into the world.

[1] The ceremonial use of light occurs in the Jewish, Zoroastrian and Hindu rites and customs. Jewish temples can have an eternal lamp. Certain religions have fire-worship.

[2] Recorded in the Liber Pontificalis. Volume 1 173–6. Also called the book of the popes.

[3] Ibid, 173–6.

Bishop Meuland - an enigma

           Roger Meuland,[1] c. 1215–1295, was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield for 37 years, 1258–1295, when there was much construction of the current cathedral, yet little is known about what he achieved. Nothing is known of his paternity and early life, but he might have been brought up in France. There are indications he was distantly related to the king.[2] By 1257 he was a canon at Lichfield and also a papal chaplain. That year he bought buildings and land in St Mary-le-Strand, London, in 1257, presumably for residency. His elevation to bishop, 1258,  was probably managed by Richard the king’s brother.[3] He spoke French and this must have been a hindrance to relationships with resident Anglo-Saxon speakers.

            In 1259, he upset King Henry III by attempting unsuccessfully to take control of the royal free chapels in the diocese. In 1263, the king entrusted him with the bishops of London and Lincoln to make a settlement with Simon de Montfort, sixth earl of Leicester, and it was attempted again in the following year, but without success. He then co-operated with Montfort, after he gained power in 1264, helping to arrange settlements with the Marcher barons.[4] He also, with the Bishop of Worcester, helped release Prince Edward from imprisonment in Kenilworth Castle. In 1265, the king regained power with a bloody battle at Evesham. Meuland retook allegiance to the king, but now did little in the affairs of the state.

            Much of his known episcopy was concerned with obtaining funds for the cathedral and other churches in the diocese. He assigned ten marks to the fabric fund. It was during his episcopate that the whole of the nave and the lower part of the great west front were built and he probably played a significant part in raising funds for the enterprise. He could have been the facilitator for Henry III taking such a strong interest in the building of the cathedral.

            With the succession of Edward I, Meuland was granted the forest or free Chase of Canok and the free warren in the manors of Rugeley and Cannock. Together with his office of sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire, 1271–3, he must have gained wealth. A good relationship between Edward and Meuland could have been a forerunner for the close relationship with the next bishop, Walter Langton.

            Late in his episcopy he, the Dean and Chapter came under strong criticism from Archbishop Peckham for serious offences leading to the conclusion they did not care about the diocese. The bishop was too often absent from his diocese. It later proved (mostly) untrue,[5] but the ageing French-speaking bishop must have felt helpless against the archbishop’s condemnation. It resulted in the appointment of a suffragan bishop, the archdeacon of Derby, who spoke the native language.

            There are scattered indications he was the first bishop to keep an episcopal register, kept as a roll, but unfortunately his Acta has been lost.[6] It must have recorded his precise involvement in the making of the cathedral and it might have been considerable. He does not have a statue on the west front of the cathedral.[7]

           Meuland died December 16 1295 aged 80, and was possibly buried, January 1296, on the south side of the high altar in bay 5. If so, the stone coffin was seen in the excavations of 1992.[8]

Probable site of Bishop Meuland’s grave according to Dugdale.

Meuland’s coffin might be the one on the right.

 

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[1] Also spelt Meuleng, Meulent, Molend, Meulan, Mulent, Meulinges and recently Mayland could have indicated an ancestral connection with Meulon in Normandy. Matthew Paris of St Albans, c. 1200–1259, named him master Longespée prompting speculation that he was the son of William Longespée, earl of Salisbury. If true, and it is doubtful, it would mean King Henry III was his uncle.

[2] Full a comprehensive review see D. Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry: A study in Colonial and Medieval Families. 2nd ed. (2011), 39–40. There are many competing ancestries, all conjectural.

[3] In the year of his consecration, he joined Richard in Germany for his coronation as King of the Romans. His relationship with the king’s brother suggests a familial connection.

[4] Simon Montfort was a bigoted Christian with a hatred for Jews. His wars were under the banner of killing Jews and removing usury. There is no evidence Meuland supported this cause.

[5] H. E. Savage, The Great Register of Lichfield. Unpub. address in Cathedral Library (1923).

[6] They were known up to the Civil War. W. Dugdale, Monasticum Anglicanum. (London: 1673) gave short references. See R. N. Swanson, ‘The rolls of roger de Meuland, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield (1258‐1295)’. Journal of the Society of Archivists. (1990), 11, 37–40.

[7] It would be reasonable to believe he once had a statue on the west front that was built in the time of his episcopy.

[8] W. Rodwell, Revealing the history of the Cathedral. Unpub. paper in Cathedral Library (1992), 24–34.