A reminder of the value of humility and service is reenacted on Maundy Thursday through the ritual of washing of the feet at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Like Christ who performed the humble ritual to the apostles, church leaders also display the same to persons who represent sectors of society who are suffering from various forms of discrimination.

In the past, Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of inmates, differently-abled people, the elderly, and non-Catholics. Pope Benedict XVI was reported to have washed the feet of priests, and Pope John Paul II performed the ritual on 12 homeless boys in 1983.

A PRIEST washes the feet of the apostles in the reenactment of the Last Supper during the Maundy Thursday Mass at Plaza Mayor at the University of Santo Tomas, April 13, 2017. (Rio Leonelle Deluvio/MB File Photo)

In the Philippines, we’ve seen church leaders perform the ritual on former drug addicts, widows of victims of killings, elections and medical frontliners, and the police.

How did the washing of the feet ritual start?

The tradition, which is practiced on Maundy Thursday of the Holy Week, dates back to the early years of Christianity. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, it originated from Palestinian homes where it was an act of hospitality performed by a servant or wife of the host to guests who wore sandals and walked on dusty roads.

In the Bible, Christ washed the feet of the 12 apostles at the Last Supper, the night before His crucifixion, telling them in the book of John 13:14-15 NIV: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

Today, the ritual is part of the Last Supper mass where the parish priest, portraying Jesus, washes and kisses the feet of 12 selected individuals chosen to represent the apostles.

CARDINAL LUIS Tagle led the washing of the feet at the Manila Cathedral in 2018. (Ali Vicoy/MB File Photo)

According to the Rector’s Office of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, or Quiapo Church, the personalities who are chosen to represent the 12 apostles are usually lay leaders or heads of different ministries that serve the church, like altar servers, or the youth.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines in a 2017 report said Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle washed the feet of former drug addicts, drug surrenderers, policemen, government officials, volunteers, and relatives of victims of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines.

In other churches, jeepney and pedicab drivers, indigenous people, sidewalk vendors were among those chosen to participate in the ritual.

In the United States, the washing of the feet ritual had touched the lives of those selected to participate, among them immigrants awaiting deportation and refugees, according to a report by NBC News in 2017.

In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the Manila Bulletin reported that four people – a media practitioner, a doctor, a police officer, and a driver, were selected to participate in the ritual which was then open only to a few people because of the lockdown.

In 2022, election front liners and first-time voters were among those selected to participate in the foot-washing rites at the Manila Cathedral.

The Office of Communications of the Archdiocese of Manila said that the church randomly selects those whose feet will be washed, and may come from a wide demographic or social class.

Holy Week rites like the washing of the feet are among the many traditions that the faithful practice to commemorate Christ’s love and sacrifice for His people. While its roots date back to ancient times, its message continues to be relevant today. (Pancho Parian)