"It was the Queen herself who wanted the Maundy Thursday ceremony to include, as well as the Catholics, also the Methodists and Presbyterians, so that it could become a very important ecumenical service for Northern Ireland". With these words, Alan Harper, Archbishop of Armagh and leader of the "Church of Ireland", the Irish Anglican Church, tells to SIR about the decision taken by the Queen to transfer for the first time the ancient service to the Anglican Cathedral of St. Patrick, in Armagh, Northern Ireland. The ceremony will also be attended by the Catholic primate of Ireland, card. Sean Brady, and by delegates of the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches. The service, during which the Queen will hand out purses containing money to 164 delegates of the four Christian denominations, dates back to 1300. In the past, the monarch used to wash the feet of the guest subjects. In 1633, James II, after the Protestant Reform, replaced the washing of the feet with the handing out of purses full of money, specially coined for the occasion. The participants are a man and a woman, one for each year of the Queen’s age, who have stood out for the way they have served their own communities. According to the leader of the Irish Anglican Church, "it is significant if a service like the one of Maundy Thursday, built around the virtue of humility, becomes an ecumenical occasion".
