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]
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| 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.
[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.
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