[Footnote 76: The emperors of Costantinople used (according to
Codinus De Officiis Aulæ Costantinop.) to wash the feet of twelve poor
persons: and Vespasiano Fiorentino in the fifteenth century, in his
life of Alfonso di Napoli quoted by Cancellieri, says that "Il Giovedi
Santo lavava i piedi a tanti poveri, quant' egli aveva anni, et
lavavagli, come si deve ... et a tutti dava una veste bianca, et un
pajo di calze, et un Alfonsino, et un fiorino et un carlino, et non
so che altra moneta. Dipoi il Giovedi medesímo faceva ordinare una
cena,... et la Maestà del Re la pigliava, et metteva loro innanzi, e
con il vino, et quello avevano di bisogno con grandissima umiltà".
See also Martene, De Ant. Eccl. Rit. Lib. IV, c. XII, § 8. Our readers
will here call to mind the good old custom still preserved of the
maundy of our British Sovereigns, so called from mandatum, the first
word of the first anthem sung during, the washing of the feet. In the
Greek church, according to Baillet, not only are the feet of twelve
poor persons washed, but the name of an apostle is given to each of
them; as it may be supposed, nobody is anxious to have the name of
Judas Iscariot: so lots are drawn to determine the person who is to
represent that traitor. This may remind us of the threat of Leonardo
da Vinci to copy the head of Judas, in his celebrated last supper,
from the importunate Prior of S. Maria delle Grazie of Milan. Poor
Leonardo despaired of finding a model for the head of our Saviour; and
for more than a year was seeking the rabble for a fit subject whom he
might represent as Judas: meantime the Prior was continually worrying
him to finish the fresco. "In ogni caso poi" said he to Lodovico
Sforza, "faro capitale del ritratto del P. Priore, che lo merita
per la sua importunità e per la sua poca discrezione". The story of
Leonardo bears some resemblance to the manner in which Michelangelo
punished Biagio da Cesena Pontifical Master of Ceremonies, who