maundy

maun’dy, noun (In the Roman Catholic countries)

ceremony of washing the feet of poor people (John xiii. 14) :

¹⁰Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. ¹¹For he knew him that should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. ¹²So when he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and sat down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? ¹³Ye call me, Teacher, and, Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. ¹⁴If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you.

(in English usage) distribution of maundy money (especially minted silver coins) by royal almoner to the poor on Maundy Thursday (next before Easter).

“It is easy to give alms; it is better to work to make the giving of alms unnecessary.”

- Henry Ford

“Give no bounties: make equal laws: secure life and prosperity and you need not give alms.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“One would give generous alms if one had the eyes to see the beauty of a cupped receiving hand.”

^- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

[Middle English from Old French mande from Latin mandatum (novum) MANDATE]