Mandatum - Why so long?
  • Chrism
    Posts: 868
    Can anyone explain why the Mandatum chants are so long, when the rite only calls for the washing of (at most) 12 pairs of male feet?
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    Are they really unusually long? Anyway, sometimes things take a long time, especially if there is a long procession with the twelve men, and then the priest is slow and ceremonious about taking off his chasuble, and so on. But doesn't the Missal specifically anticipate that some of the antiphons may not be needed at all?
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    Chrism, I've pondered the same question, and can only come up with goofy reasons. Could it be that American men's feet are cleaner? Or that our priests have superior knees? Or that running water is more readily available nowadays?
    Honestly, though, it does seem quite lengthy if one uses all the chants.
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    Assuming we are taking about the 1962 Missal here, it is not permitted to use all the chants unless the ceremony actually runs that long. The instruction is that, when the washing is approaching its end, all unused antiphons are omitted and you proceed immediately to the Ubi Caritas.
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    Which is why, in a small parish church, we've only had to sing the first antiphon and proceed to the Ubi caritas.
  • gregpgregp
    Posts: 632
    Same here, MaryAnn.
  • Chrism
    Posts: 868
    I don't see how you would make it much longer in a cathedral. The antiphons are about 20 minutes of chant. Washing twelve right feet (O'Connell says I was wrong earlier, and only one foot gets washed) simply doesn't take that long.

    For the other places in the liturgy where there is more chant than needed, the ritual used to take longer, and was shortened at some point, but we still have the chant. Does anyone know if some ritual action was done in the past?
  • Aidan
    Posts: 8
    Originally, I believe, the rite took place in the cathedral chapter house with all canons having their feet washed (at least in the Sarum Use), which would obviously take much longer and require more antiphons.
  • Mark P.
    Posts: 248
    The 1974 Graduale Romanum has just the antiphons without psalm verses. So, it may be possible to do more than one antiphon for the foot washing in the Ordinary Form. "Ubi caritas" is, of course, the offertory in the OF for Holy Thursday--one of the few instances where a specific offertory chant is called out in the Ordinary Form.
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