Altars of repose and the visits to seven churches

Today, the Catholic Church is celebrating Maundy Thursday, or Thursday of the Gathering (Ħamis ix-Xirka in Maltese), referring to the evening Jesus and his disciples met for the Last Supper.

During that gathering, Jesus washed the apostles’ feet (Jn 13: 5-10).

In the Catholic calendar, this day marks the beginning of the Paschal Triduum: Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday (L-Għid il-Kbir), the greatest feast for Christians – Christ’s victory over death. Above all, Jesus established the Holy Eucharist (Mk 14: 22-24).

Besides ‘Maundy Thursday’, this day is also referred to by various other names, including Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great and Holy Thursday, Shere Thursday, Thursday of the Mysteries and Thursday of the Lord’s Supper. However, the most popular are ‘Holy Thursday’ and ‘Maundy Thursday’.

Altar of repose at St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta.

Altar of repose at Ta’ Pinu national sanctuary in Gozo.

Why Maundy?

The word ‘maundy’ comes from the Old French word ‘mande’, which derives from the Latin word ‘mandatum’, meaning ‘to mandate/command’/‘a commandment’, and resonates Jesus’s words to His disciples during the supper: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Jn 13: 34-35).

Altar of repose at St Francis church of the Franciscan Convent, in Victoria.

Altar of repose at the church of Our Lady of Pompei, in Victoria.

Altar of repose at St George’s Basilica, Victoria.

Altar of repose

On this day, at the end of Holy Mass – during which the priest washes the feet of 12 people from the congregation – the celebrant divests the altar from the altar cloth, crucifix and candles and solemnly carries the Holy Eucharist from the main tabernacle to a special one, prepared and adorned with curtains, carpets, lights, flowers, plants and statues of adoring angels – the altar of repose (Is-Sepulkru).

The Holy Eucharist is held there for adoration until it is carried back, on the morrow, during the church celebration held in the early afternoon of Good Friday.

Visits to seven churches

On Thursday evening and Good Friday morning, in the hours the Holy Eucharist is in this tabernacle on the altar of repose, Christians do a sort of pilgrimage to visit seven churches – in twos or in small or large groups – praying along the way, generally reciting the rosary.

Some conduct the visits in one church, while others visit churches in different localities.

During each visit, pilgrims kneel in front of the Holy Eucharist, praying and reflecting on the passion of Christ, on the seven final ‘stations’ Jesus passed through from his arrest on Holy Thursday to his death on Good Friday, and adoring Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

The altar of repose at Xagħra parish church, in Gozo.

Origins of the tradition

The origin of the tradition of conducting these visits is attributed to St Philip Neri, who, in the 16th century, began leading the faithful on visits to each of the seven basilicas in Rome.

The concept was that of accompanying and watching with Jesus while he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before His passion and death. The road in Rome that joins ‘San Paolo fuor le Mura’ and ‘San Sebastiano’, also ‘fuor le Mura’, is still called ‘Via delle Sette Chiese’ (Seven Churches Street).

These visits became very popular and developed in ‘the Seven Churches Visitation’ (Il-viżti ta’ Ħamis ix-Xirka).

Today, this devotion is embraced by faithful all over the world, among them, and very fervently, the Maltese.

Scripture excerpts for reflection

Altar of repose at the small church at Ta’ Ħamet, Gozo.

The first visit: Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane (Lk 22: 39-46): the faithful recall Jesus – after the Last Supper – going to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He earnestly prayed and sweated blood (some scholars say this was the result of a heart attack) in His agony over the passion and death on the cross he would be soon going through.

The second visit: Jesus is taken before Annas (Jn 18: 19-22): pilgrims meditate on Jesus being taken by the angry crowd from the Garden of Gethsemane to the house of Annas, where he was interrogated and slapped on the face.

The third visit: Jesus is taken before Caiaphas (Mt. 26: 63-65): The prayer focuses on Jesus being taken to the house of Caiaphas, where he was beaten, spat upon, insulted and endured a painful night in captivity.

The fourth visit: Jesus is taken before Pilate (Jn 18: 35-37): This reflection is about the first time Jesus was brought before the Roman governor of the region and accused by the Jewish religious authorities of being a rival king to Caesar.

The fifth visit: Jesus is taken before Herod (Lk. 23: 8-9; 11): pilgrims follow the Lord as he is taken to Herod, who, along with his guards, mocked him, draped him in an attractive robe and sent him back to Pilate.

The sixth visit: Jesus is taken again before Pilate (Mt. 27: 22-26): The reflection is on Jesus being taken from Herod and brought before Pilate for the second time, then scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked and condemned to death on a cross (it was the Roman custom to crucify people sentenced to death).

The seventh visit: Jesus is crucified and dies (Mt. 27: 27-31): the reflection is on Christ carrying the cross from the Praetorium – where Pilate succumbed to the crowd’s demand for his crucifixion – to Mount Calvary, where he suffered extreme pain (some scholars say he experienced a second – and fatal – heart attack), died and was laid to rest in a nearby new tomb, until his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Altar of repose in the chapel of the Dominican House of Studies, in Washington DC, the US. Photo: Bro Augustine Buckner, OP