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The meal held byChrist and Hisdisciples on the eve of HisPassion at which He instituted theHoly Eucharist.
TheEvangelists and critics generally agree that the Last Supper was on a Thursday, thatChristsuffered and died on Friday, and that Hearose from the dead onSunday. As to the day of the month there seems a difference between the record of thesynoptic Gospels and that ofSt. John. In consequence some critics have rejected theauthenticity of either account or of both. SinceChristians, accepting theinspiration of theScriptures, cannot admit contradictions in the sacred writers, various attempts have been made to reconcile the statements. Matthew 26:17 says, "And on the first day of theAzymes"; Mark 14:12, "Now on the first day of theunleavened bread, when theysacrificed thepasch"; Luke 22:7, "And the day of theunleavened bread came, on which it was necessary that thepasch should be killed". From these passages it seems to follow thatJesus and hisdisciples conformed to the ordinary custom, that the Last Supper took place on the 14th of Nisan, and that theCrucifixion was on the 15th, the great festival of theJews. This opinion, held by Tolet,Cornelius a Lapide,Patrizi, Corluy, Hengstenberg, Ohlshausen, and Tholuck, is confirmed by the custom of the earlyEastern Church which, looking to the day of the month, celebrated thecommemoration of theLord's Last Supper on the 14th of Nisan, without paying any attention to the day of the week. This was done in conformity with the teaching ofSt. John the Evangelist. But in hisGospel,St. John seems to indicate that Friday was the 14th of Nisan, for (18:28) on the morning of this day theJews "went not into the hall, that they might not bedefiled, but that they might eat thepasch". Various things were done on this Friday which could not be done on a feast, viz.,Christ is arrested, tried, crucified; His body is taken down" (because it was the parasceve) that the bodies might not remain upon thecross on thesabbath day (for that was a greatsabbath day)"; theshroud and ointments are bought, and so on.
The defenders of this opinion claim that there is only an apparent contradiction and that the differing statements may be reconciled. For theJews calculated their festivals andSabbaths from sunset to sunset: thus theSabbath began after sunset on Friday and ended at sunset on Saturday. This style is employed by thesynoptic Gospels, whileSt. John, writing about twenty-six years after the destruction ofJerusalem, when Jewish law and customs no longer prevailed, may well have used the Roman method of computing time from midnight to midnight. The wordpasch does not exclusively apply to thepaschal lamb on the eve of the feast, but is used in theScriptures and in theTalmud in a wider sense for the entire festivity, including thechagigah; anylegal defilement could have been removed by the evening ablutions; trials, and evenexecutions and many servile works, though forbidden on theSabbath, were not forbidden on feasts (Numbers 28:16;Deuteronomy 16:23). The wordparasceve may denote the preparation for anySabbath and may be the common designation for any Friday, and its connexion withpasch need not mean preparation for thePassover but Friday of thePassover season and hence thisSabbath was a greatSabbath. Moreover it seems quite certain that ifSt. John intended to give a different date from that given by theSynoptics and sanctioned by the custom of his ownChurch at Ephesus, he would have said so expressly. Others accept the apparent statement ofSt. John that the Last Supper was on the 13th of Nisan and try to reconcile the account of theSynoptics. To this class belongPaul of Burgos,Maldonatus,Pétau,Hardouin,Tillemont, and others.Peter of Alexandria (P.G., XCII, 78) says: "In previous yearsJesus had kept thePassover and eaten thepaschal lamb, but on the day before Hesuffered as thetruePaschal Lamb He taught Hisdisciples themystery of thetype." Others say: Since thePasch, falling that year on a Friday, was reckoned as aSabbath, theJews, to avoid the inconvenience of two successiveSabbaths, had postponed thePassover for a day, andJesus adhered to the day fixed by law; others think thatJesus anticipated the celebration, knowing that the proper time He would be in thegrave.
The owner of the house in which was the upper room of the Last Supper is not mentioned inScripture; but he must have been one of thedisciples, sinceChrist bidsPeter andJohn say, "The Master says". Some say it wasNicodemus, orJoseph of Arimathea, or themother of John Mark. The hall was large and furnished as a dining-room. In itChrist showed Himself after HisResurrection; here took place theelection ofMatthias to theApostolate and the sending of theHoly Ghost; here the firstChristians assembled for thebreaking of bread; hitherPeter andJohn came when they had given testimony after the cure of the man born lame, andPeter after his liberation fromprison; here perhaps was the council of theApostles held. It was for awhile the only church inJerusalem, the mother of all churches, known as theChurch of theApostles or of Sion. It was visited in 404 bySt. Paula of Rome. In the eleventh century it was destroyed by theSaracens, later rebuilt and given to the care of theAugustinians. Restored after a second destruction, it was placed in charge of theFranciscans, who were driven out in 1561. At present it is aMoslem mosque.
Some critics give the following harmonized order:washing of the feet of theApostles, prediction of the betrayal and departure ofJudas, institution of theHoly Eucharist. Others, believing thatJudas made asacrilegiouscommunion, place the institution of thesacrament before the departure ofJudas.
The Last Supper has been a favourite subject. In thecatacombs we find representations of meals giving at least anidea of the surroundings of an ancient dining hall. Of the sixth century we have abas-relief in the church at Monza inItaly, a picture in aSyriancodex of the Laurentian Library atFlorence, and amosaic in S. Apollmare Nuovo atRavenna. One of the most popularpictures is that ofLeonardo da Vinci in Santa Maria delle Grazie,Milan. Among the modern school of German artists, the Last Supper of Gebhardt is regarded as a masterpiece.
FOUARD,The Christ, the Son of God, tr. GRIFFITH, II (London, 1895), 386; MADAME CECILIA,Cath. Scripture Manuals;St. Matthew, II, 197;The Expository Times, XX (Edinburgh, 1909), 514;Theolog. praktische Quartalschrift (1877), 425; LANGEN,Die letzten Lebenstage Jesu (Freiburg, 1864), 27; KRAUS,Gesch. der chr. Kunst, s.v.Abendmahl;Stimmen aus Maria Laach, XLIX, 146; CHWOLSON inMém. de l'Acad. impér. des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg, 7th ser., XLI, p. 37; VIGOUROUX,Dict. de la Bible (Paris, 1899), s. vv.Cène;Cénacle, where a full bibliography may be found.
APA citation.Mershman, F.(1912).The Last Supper. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14341a.htm
MLA citation.Mershman, Francis."The Last Supper."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 14.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1912.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14341a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Scott Anthony Hibbs.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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