The Lord's Supper on Good Friday: a lost noble Anglican practice?

Went to Parson Gapper's this afternoon at East Charlton, about one mile from Babcary, to desire him to administer the Sacrament for me next Friday being Good Friday, which he promised me he would.

The words of Parson Woodforde from 1764 introduce us to a practice now unfortunately lost to most Anglicans: the administration of the Lord's Supper on Good Friday. This Woodforde reference is significant, not least because the good Parson was not the type to be - how shall we put this? - a liturgical innovator.

While I have yet to see any research on the matter (if readers are aware of any such research, please do let me know), there seems to be enough evidence to suggest that administering the Lord's Supper on Good Friday was a common practice throughout the 'long 18th century'. 

For example, John Shepherd, in his 1801 A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II, makes a point of addressing the absence of a proper preface for Good Friday in the Holy Communion:

Good Friday has no proper preface, and I presume for this reason: The whole office is a commemoration "of the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits we receive thereby."

This quite clearly indicates that, as for as Shepherd was concerned, the "whole office" of Holy Communion was administered on Good Friday, not merely Ante-Communion. A similar - albeit not as explicit - comment is also found in Wheatley's A Rational Illustration of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, first published (under a different title) in 1710. Referring to the Good Friday collects, Wheatley states:

In the first Common-Prayer Book of King Edward, the first of the Collects for this day is appointed to be us'd at Mattins only; the other two at the Communion.

It is possible that Wheatley here means the Ante-Communion, but there is nothing in his commentary on the Prayer Book's Good Friday provision to suggest this. He certainly does not make any reference to Ante-Communion being a normal custom on Good Friday. This being so, there is reason to think that "the Communion" means just that: the administration of the Sacrament. Likewise, Sparrow's 1655 A Rational Upon the Book of Common Prayer has no reference to Ante-Communion on Good Friday.

Two sermons are also worth considering. The first was delivered on Good Friday 1715, by Thomas Curteis, vicar of Wrotham in Kent:

But the Time will only allow me to put you in Mind of that most suitable Testimony of His Dying Love, which He Himself manifested in the Institution of His Last Supper, or Holy Sacrament: Wherein We both shew a becoming Obedience to the Authority of his Command, and thankfully commemorate the invaluable Benefits of His Passion. Let us therefore duly consider, and humbly admire the gracious Design, and most tender Care of our compassionate Saviour, in making such Provision for our Comfort when Himself was overwhelm'd with Sorrow, at the Approach of that Bitter Cup which was prepared for Him: And be always mindful of the Examination which is necessary for our approaching that Spiritual Feast: With the fresh Obligations We lay upon ourselves to persevere in this Sacred Ordinance, and all other Duties of Religion, to the End of our Lives.

This might be interpreted as urging preparation to receive the Sacrament on Easter Day. Lacking, however, is any explicit - and surely expected - reference to this being so. A more natural interpretation is that the Sacrament is about to be administered as part of the observance of Good Friday, a means to "thankfully commemorate the invaluable Benefits of His Passion". 

The second Good Friday sermon is from an 1817 collection by Joseph Holden Pott, a cleric associated with the Hackney Phalanx:

Happy is it for us, that the remembrance of our Lord's precious death, though it strike the soul with some sad thoughts, is coupled with a secret sense of joy and consolation. Our sadness cannot resemble that of the first desolate attendants on the cross of Christ. God hath spared us the drinking of that cup. The Christian cup, then, is the cup of gratitude and praise: yet before we touch it we must call to mind the depth, and consider the anguish of those wounds, by which it was replenished. Our thankfulness will then be full. We shall offer up our humble sacrifices of praise, not in addition to the one great sacrifice, which is alone sufficient to its ends and purposes, but as our bounden and perpetual duty.

Such are the peculiar themes of this day's celebration; the main grounds, first of our humiliation, and then, of our sure comfort and rejoicing.

I have previously automatically read this as referring to not administering the Sacrament on Good Friday. Re-reading the text, however, I am increasingly convinced that it makes most sense as a reference to the Sacrament about to be administered on the day. "We shall offer up our humble sacrifices of praise, not in addition to the one great sacrifice, which is alone sufficient to its ends and purposes, but as our bounden and perpetual duty" quite clearly echoes both the Sursum Corda and the post-Communion Prayer of Oblation. Indeed, it is in the Sacrament that "a secret sense of joy and consolation" is communicated to us.

The fact that both these Good Friday sermons - one from the earlier part of the 'long 18th century', the other from its closing decades - contain explicit references to the holy Sacrament is at least noteworthy. It is possible that both are a preparation for receiving the Sacrament on Easter Day, but neither clearly state this or make connections with Easter Day. Instead, both relate the Sacrament to the themes of the Lord's Death and Passion, make it more likely that they are referring to the Lord's Supper being administered on Good Friday. When read alongside Parson Woodforde's words - as opposed to contemporary Anglican practice, derived from the Roman tradition - these sermons do seem to suggest a not uncommon practice of the Lord's Supper being celebrated on the day that the church solemnly observes the commemoration of the Lord's Passion.

In terms of further sources to explore, it is unlikely that the returns from parish clergy during episcopal visitations - a rich mine of information - would provide any evidence on this matter. Such returns included how many times during the year that the Sacrament was administered. Good Friday celebrations of the Sacrament, however, are unlikely to be identified because of the obvious proximity of Good Friday to Easter Day. Receiving the Sacrament on both days would have been unusual for 18th century Anglican piety. Much more likely that is that receiving the Sacrament on Good Friday fulfilled the Prayer Book requirement that parishioners "communicate at least three times in the year, of which Easter to be one". In larger parishes with numerous communicants, this could also have been a practical arrangement to facilitate reception at Easter. (Although, of course, this does not explain Parson Woodforde administering the Sacrament in his rural parish on Good Friday 1764.) Separate celebrations, therefore, on Good Friday and Easter Day would have been regarded as one occasion - Eastertide - for the purposes of visitation returns. This also, by the way, raises the possibility of Holy Communion being administered on Easter Even, for the same practical reasons.

If administering the Lord's Supper on Good Friday was a commonplace practice in the Church of England during the 'long 18th century', the question also arises as to how and why it ceased. A number of possibilities come to mind: did a more frequent adoption of monthly Communion militate against Good Friday reception? Did the construction of larger churches in urban areas during the early- and mid-19th century render redundant a practical need to 'spread out' Easter Communions from Good Friday to Easter Tuesday? Did an ecclesial reaction against 18th century norms contribute to the end of the practice?

In conclusion, the evidence presented in this post tends to support - if tentatively - the understanding that administering the Lord's Supper on Good Friday was a not uncommon practice in the Church of England of the 'long 18th century'. Whether this gives grounds for reconsidering current Anglican practice on Good Friday is a matter for further discussion - we should, however, at least reflect on the older practice and its virtues, both practical and theological.