Where was the Eucharist instituted? On Mount Zion, in the Upper Room. Yes. (1) But celebrating Mass in the Upper Room is prohibited.
Is that the reason that on that very morning Mass is celebrated in the Holy Sepulcher? No. During the period when the Franciscans were the guardians of the Cenacle (1300-1551), the Holy Thursday liturgy was already celebrated in the Holy Sepulcher. Earlier, during the Crusades, it was the same.
It is because the Eucharistic mystery is the memorial of the death AND the resurrection of Christ. Celebrating Mass is not mimicking Christ’s gestures; it is renewing the mystery of the Passion and the Resurrection.
Until the Second Vatican Council, the foot washing ceremony was not a part of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Thus, during the Crusades, the Mass was celebrated in the Holy Sepulcher and the washing of the feet, which is a mimetic gesture, was done in the Upper Room.
Since the Upper Room is intimately related to Holy Thursday, and because in Jerusalem the liturgy is itinerant, today, as they have for centuries, on every Holy Thursday the Franciscan friars make a pilgrimage to Mount Zion.
This year, in the streets of the Armenian Quarter, crowded with Jews going to and from the Kotel (the Western Wall) at this time when they are also celebrating their Passover, the Franciscan’s procession, preceded by the kawas in their Ottoman garb, did not go unnoticed. The Jewish “older brothers” opened their eyes as wide as do the Christians who pass by ultra-orthodox Jews. Jerusalem, that wonderful, picturesque city!
A few of the faithful followed the procession, others went on ahead, and the lower room of the Cenacle is full. A joyful atmosphere prevailed. Everyone felt like members of the same family, and so it was that the Custos of the Holy Land took a quick survey of the assembly. “How many understand English?” Hands went up. “Spanish? Italian?” It was a tie, so the prayers were in those languages and Arabic. The Prayers of the Faithful were also in Hebrew and Polish.
A small choir of friars animated the prayer. The others were in the Holy Sepulcher, where the doors were closed, for Eucharistic Adoration.
At the Cenacle, the prayer is very simple and recollected. When it is time for the Our Father, the Custos, as he has the habit of doing whenever he presides here,(2) invites the assembly to pray each in his own language.
After half an hour, those who so desired followed the Franciscans on their pilgrimage to Saint James’ Church and then the Chapel of the Archangels. Armenian tradition marks this church as the site of martyrdom of Saint James the Greater and the chapel as the site of the home of the high priest Annas. It is there that the Armenians took in the Franciscans after their expulsion from the Cenacle in 1551, when they roamed the city, homeless. In gratitude for this hospitality, the Franciscans go to the Armenians to pray every Holy Thursday.
After singing the Our Father and reciting a Hail Mary, the Franciscans returned to Saint Saviour’s, where the Custos was to be the principal concelebrant in the parish Mass of the Lord’s Supper and, in his turn, repeat the gesture of washing feet.
MAB
1. For the Syrian Orthodox, the Eucharist was instituted in the home of Mark, which is different from the site of the Pentecost, which all denominations say took place in the Cenacle on Mount Zion.
2. The exact title of the Custos is “Guardian of Mount Zion and of the Holy Sepulcher”. The Custos presides over two annual pilgrimages to the Cenacle: in the afternoon of Holy Thursday and on the day of Pentecost, when Vespers of the feast is sung in the Cenacle.
Is that the reason that on that very morning Mass is celebrated in the Holy Sepulcher? No. During the period when the Franciscans were the guardians of the Cenacle (1300-1551), the Holy Thursday liturgy was already celebrated in the Holy Sepulcher. Earlier, during the Crusades, it was the same.
It is because the Eucharistic mystery is the memorial of the death AND the resurrection of Christ. Celebrating Mass is not mimicking Christ’s gestures; it is renewing the mystery of the Passion and the Resurrection.
Until the Second Vatican Council, the foot washing ceremony was not a part of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. Thus, during the Crusades, the Mass was celebrated in the Holy Sepulcher and the washing of the feet, which is a mimetic gesture, was done in the Upper Room.
Since the Upper Room is intimately related to Holy Thursday, and because in Jerusalem the liturgy is itinerant, today, as they have for centuries, on every Holy Thursday the Franciscan friars make a pilgrimage to Mount Zion.
This year, in the streets of the Armenian Quarter, crowded with Jews going to and from the Kotel (the Western Wall) at this time when they are also celebrating their Passover, the Franciscan’s procession, preceded by the kawas in their Ottoman garb, did not go unnoticed. The Jewish “older brothers” opened their eyes as wide as do the Christians who pass by ultra-orthodox Jews. Jerusalem, that wonderful, picturesque city!
A few of the faithful followed the procession, others went on ahead, and the lower room of the Cenacle is full. A joyful atmosphere prevailed. Everyone felt like members of the same family, and so it was that the Custos of the Holy Land took a quick survey of the assembly. “How many understand English?” Hands went up. “Spanish? Italian?” It was a tie, so the prayers were in those languages and Arabic. The Prayers of the Faithful were also in Hebrew and Polish.
A small choir of friars animated the prayer. The others were in the Holy Sepulcher, where the doors were closed, for Eucharistic Adoration.
At the Cenacle, the prayer is very simple and recollected. When it is time for the Our Father, the Custos, as he has the habit of doing whenever he presides here,(2) invites the assembly to pray each in his own language.
After half an hour, those who so desired followed the Franciscans on their pilgrimage to Saint James’ Church and then the Chapel of the Archangels. Armenian tradition marks this church as the site of martyrdom of Saint James the Greater and the chapel as the site of the home of the high priest Annas. It is there that the Armenians took in the Franciscans after their expulsion from the Cenacle in 1551, when they roamed the city, homeless. In gratitude for this hospitality, the Franciscans go to the Armenians to pray every Holy Thursday.
After singing the Our Father and reciting a Hail Mary, the Franciscans returned to Saint Saviour’s, where the Custos was to be the principal concelebrant in the parish Mass of the Lord’s Supper and, in his turn, repeat the gesture of washing feet.
MAB
1. For the Syrian Orthodox, the Eucharist was instituted in the home of Mark, which is different from the site of the Pentecost, which all denominations say took place in the Cenacle on Mount Zion.
2. The exact title of the Custos is “Guardian of Mount Zion and of the Holy Sepulcher”. The Custos presides over two annual pilgrimages to the Cenacle: in the afternoon of Holy Thursday and on the day of Pentecost, when Vespers of the feast is sung in the Cenacle.