Conger

St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh played host to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for the Royal Maundy ceremony on March 20, the first time the service has been held in Ireland since its first recorded celebration in Knaresborough, Yorkshire by King John in 1210.

Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, 164 pensioners, 82 men and 82 women, received a red purse containing an allowance for clothing and sustenance and a white purse containing silver Maundy coins with as many pence as the Sovereign has years of age.

Representatives of the four main Christian Churches: the Church of Ireland, the Roman Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Church nominated the pensioners to receive the alms, based upon their service to the church and community.

The Dean of Amagh, the Very Rev Patrick Rooke led the prayers and the lessons were read by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Sean Brady.

The heads of the four main Christian churches were present at the service, as was former Archbihsop of Armagh, Lord Eames and the Church of Ireland bishops of Ulster.

The Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Alan Harper welcomed the Queen to a luncheon at the deanery following the service, saying her visit was “a day as momentous as any in the history of this ancient place.”

The Royal Maundy ceremony was a “profound act of religious worship, honouring and recapitulating the actions of our Lord himself at his last meal with his closest friends and followers in the Upper room in Jerusalem,” Dr. Harper said.

“The example of our Lord in washing the feet of those who called him ‘Master’ and ‘Lord’ before going on to institute for us the central act of worship of the Christian Church, the Eucharist, brings us close as we can hope to be to his intentions for us as we relive the events of his passion and sacrifice,” he said.