Offertory
offertory
(Latin: offero, to offer up)
that part of the Mass in which the unconsecrated bread and wine are offered to God; the oblation itself
the prayers that accompany this offering
the verse or antiphon that forms a part of the proper of the Mass which is sung by the choir while the priest is making the offering
New Catholic Dictionary
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Offertory
(Offertorium.)
The rite by which the bread and wine are presented (offered) to God before they are consecrated and the prayers and chant that accompany it.
I. HISTORY
The idea of this preparatory hallowing of the matter of the sacrifice by offering it to God is very old and forms an important element of every Christian liturgy. In the earliest period we have no evidence of anything but the bringing up of the bread and wine as they are wanted, before the Consecration prayer. Justin Martyr says: “Then bread and a cup of water and wine are brought to the president of the brethren” (I Apol., lxv, cf, lxvii). But soon the placing of the offering on the altar was accompanied by a prayer that God should accept these gifts, sanctify them, change them into the Body and Blood of his Son, and give us in return the grace of Communion. The Liturgy of “Apost. Const.” VIII, says: “The deacons bring the gifts to the bishop at the altar . . . (xii, 3-4). This silent prayer is undoubtedly an Offertory prayer. But a later modification in the East brought about one of the characteristic differences between Eastern and Roman liturgies. All Eastern (and the old Gallican) rites prepare the gift before the Liturgy begins. This ceremony (proskomide) is especially elaborate in the Byzantine and its derived rites. It takes place on the credence table. The bread and wine are arranged, divided, incensed; and many prayers are said over them involving the idea of an offertory. The gifts are left there and are brought to the altar in solemn procession at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Faithful. This leaves no room for another offertory then. However, when they are placed on the altar prayers are said by the celebrant and a litany by the deacon which repeat the offertory idea. Rome alone has kept the older custom of one offertory and of preparing the gifts when they are wanted at the beginning of the Mass of the Faithful. Originally at this moment the people brought up bread and wine which were received by the deacons and placed by them on the altar. Traces of the custom remain at a papal Mass and at Milan. The office of the vecchioni in Milan cathedral, often quoted as an Ambrosian peculiarity, is really a Roman addition that spoils the order of the old Milanese rite. Originally the only Roman Offertory prayers were the secrets. The Gregorian Sacramentary contains only the rubric: “deinde offertorium, et dicitur oratio super oblata” (P.L. LXXVIII, 25). The Oratio super oblata is the Secret. All the old secrets express the offertory idea clearly. They were said silently by the celebrant (hence their name) and so are not introduced by Oremus. This corresponds to the oldest custom mentioned in the “Apost. Const.”; its reason is that meanwhile the people sang a psalm (the Offertory chant). In the Middle Ages, as the public presentation of the gifts by the people had disappeared, there seemed to be a void at this moment which was filled by our present Offertory prayers (Thalhofer, op. cit. below, II, 161). For a long time these prayers were considered a private devotion of the priest, like the preparation at the foot of the altar. They are a Northern (late Gallican) addition, not part of the old Roman Rite, and were at first not written in missals. Micrologus says: “The Roman order appointed no prayer after the Offertory before the Secret” (cxi, P.L., CLI, 984). He mentions the later Offertory prayers as a “Gallican order” and says that they occur “not from any law but as an ecclesiastical custom”. The medieval Offertory prayers vary considerably. They were established at Rome by the fourteenth century (Ordo Rom. XIV., 53, P.L. LXXVIII, 1165). The present Roman prayers were compiled from various sources, Gallican or Mozarabic. The prayer “Suscipe sancte pater” occurs in Charles the Bald’s (875-877) prayer book; “Deus qui humanæ substantiæ” is modified from a Christmas Collect in the Gregorian Sacramentary (P.L., LXXVIII, 32): “Offerimus tibi Domine” and “Veni sanctificator” (fragment of an old Epiklesis, Hoppe, “Die Epiklesis”, Schaffhausen, 1864, p. 272) are Mozarabic (P.L. LXXXV, 112). Before Pius V’s Missal these prayers were often preceded by the title “Canon minor” or “Secretella” (as amplifications of the Secret). The Missal of Pius V (1570) printed them in the Ordinary. Since then the prayers that we know form part of the Roman Mass. The ideas expressed in them are obvious. Only it may be noted that two expressions: “hanc immaculatam hostiam” and “calicem salutaris” dramatically anticipate the moment of consecration, as does the Byzantine Cherubikon.
While the Offertory is made the people (choir) sing a verse (the Offertorium in the sense of a text to be sung) that forms part of the Proper of the Mass. No such chant is mentioned in “Apost. Const.”; VIII, but it may no doubt be supposed as the reason why the celebrant there too prays silently. It is referred to by St. Augustine (Retract., II, xi, P.L., XXXII, 63). The Offertorium was once a whole psalm with an antiphon. By the time of the Gregorian Antiphonary the psalm has been reduced to a few verses only, which are always given in that book (e.g., P.L., LXXVIII, 641). So also the Second Roman Ordo: “Canitur offertorium cum versibus” (ib., 972). Durandus notes with disapproval that in his time the verses of the psalm are left out (Rationale, IV, 26). Now only the antiphon is sung, except at requiems. It is taken from the psalter, or other book of the Bible, or is often not a Biblical text. It refers in some way to the feast or occasion of the Mass, never to the offering of bread and wine. Only the requiem has preserved a longer offertory with one verse and the repetition of the last part of the antiphon (the text is not Biblical).
II. PRESENT USE
At high Mass, as soon as the celebrant has chanted the Oremus followed by no prayer, the choir sings the Offertory. When they have finished there remains an interval till the Preface which may (when the organ is permitted) be filled by music of the organ or at any time by singing some approved hymn or chant. Meanwhile the celebrant first says the Offertory chant. The corporal has been spread on the altar during the creed. The subdeacon brings the empty chalice and the paten with the bread from the credence table to the altar. The deacon hands the paten and bread to the celebrant. He takes it and holding it up says the prayer: “suscipe sancte Pater”. At the end he makes a sign of the cross with the paten over the altar and slips the bread from it on to the corporal. Soon after the paten is given to the subdeacon’s charge till it is wanted again for the fraction. The deacon pours wine into the chalice, the subdeacon water, which is first blessed by the celebrant with the form: “Deus qui humanæ substantiæ”. The deacon hands the chalice to the celebrant, who, holding it up, says the prayer: “Offerimus tibi Domine”. The deacon also lays his right hand on the foot of the chalice and says this prayer with the celebrant — a relic of the old idea that the chalice is in his care. The celebrant makes the sign of the cross with the chalice and stands it behind the bread on the corporal. The deacon covers it with the pall. The celebrant, bowing down, his hands joined and resting on the altar, says the prayer: “In spiritu humilitatis”; rising he says the “Veni sanctificator” making the sign of the cross over all the oblata at the word benedic. Then follows the incensing of the altar and the Lavabo. The use of incense at this point is medieval and not originally Roman (remnant of the incense at the Gallican procession of the oblata?). Micrologus notes that the Roman order uses incense at the Gospel, not at the Offertory; but he admits that in his time (eleventh century) the oblata are incensed by nearly everyone (De Exxl. Observ., IX). Finally, after the Lavabo the celebrant at the middle of the altar, looking up and then bowing down, says the prayer “Suscipe sancta Trinitas” which sums up the Offertory idea. The Orate fratres and secrets follow.
At low Mass, the parts of the deacon and subdeacon are taken partly by the server and partly by the celebrant himself. There is no incense. At requiems the water is not blessed, and the subdeacon does not hold the paten. The Dominicans still prepare the offering before Mass begins. This is one of their Gallican peculiarities and so goes back to the Eastern Proskomide. The Milanese and Mozarabic Missals have adopted the Roman Offertory. The accompanying chant is called Sacrificium at Toledo.
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DURANDUS, “Rationale divinorum officiorum”, IV, 26-32; DUCHESNE, “Origines du culte chretien” (Paris, 2nd ed., 1898), 165-167; 194-199; THALHOFER, “Handbuch der katholischen Liturgik”, II (Freiburg, 1890); GIHR, “Das heilige Messopfer “(Freiburg, 1897), 458-508; Eng. tr. (St. Louis, 1908), 494-551; RIETSCHEL, “Lehrbuch der Liturgik”, I (Berlin, 1900), 376-378.
ADRIAN FORTESCUE Transcribed by Tony de Melo
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Offertory
(Lat. offertorium, from offero, I offer) is the name given to that portion of the Romish Liturgy with which the eucharistic service, strictly so called, commences. In the Roman Liturgy it consists of one or two verses from some book of Scripture, generally from the Old Testament, but sometimes from the Epistles. In the Ambrosian Liturgy it consists of a prayer, similar in form to the collect or secret of the mass; and in both this recital is followed by the preparatory offering up of the bread and wine, accompanied by certain ceremonies and forms of prayer.
This offering of the bread and wine in the public service became, from a very early period of the Christian Church, the occasion of a voluntary offering on the part of the faithful; originally, it would seem, of the bread and wine designed for the eucharistic celebration and for the communion of the priest and the congregation, sometimes even including the absent members, and also for the agape, or common sacred feast, which accompanied it. That portion of the offerings which remained in excess of what was requisite for these purposes was applied to the relief of the poor and to the support of the clergy. These offerings were ordinarily made by the faithful in person, and were laid upon the altar; and the Ambrosian rite still preserves this usage in a ceremonial which may be witnessed in the cathedral of Milan. By degrees, other gifts were superadded to those of bread and wine as of corn, oil, wax, honey, eggs, butter, fruits, lambs, fowl, and other animals; and eventually of equivalents in money or other objects of value. The last-named class of offerings, however, was not so commonly made upon the altar and during the public liturgy as in the form of free gifts presented on the occasion of other ministerial services, as of baptism, marriages, funerals, etc.; and from this has arisen the practice in the Roman Catholic Church of the mass-offering, or honorarium, which is given to a priest with the understanding that he shall offer the mass for the intention (whence the honorarium itself is often called an intention) of the offerent. In some places, however, and among them in some parts of Ireland, offerings in kind are still in use, not indeed in the form of the ancient offertory, but in the shape of contributions of corn, hay, etc., at stated seasons, for the use of the parochial clergy. At weddings also, and in some places at funerals, offerings in money are made by the relations and friends of the newly married or of the deceased (Chambers).
The offertory in the mass
(1) commences with the Dominus vobiscum, after the Creed. ending with the Preface. It contains the oblation of the bread and wine by the celebrant, the censing of the oblation, altar, and attendants, the washing of the fingers, the subsequent prayers, the invitation to pray, and the secret prayer. Originally it was usual for the faithful to bring to church the provisions which they contributed to the support of the clergy, and the necessaries for the holy communion and church use. The offering was made at this time. The deacon selected what was required for the altar, and the residue was taken to the bishop’s house for distribution to the clergy at his discretion. The candles given at ordinations and the bread and wine at the consecration of a bishop are remnants of the ancient practice. Walifrid Strabo says that it was lawful to offer new wheat-ears, grapes, oil for lamps, and incense at the time of celebration. The name is also given
(2) to the anthem sung after the Gospel or Creed, during which the people formerly offered their alms and oblations. Such was the custom in Africa (c. 400) in St. Augustine’s time. Hugo de St. Victor and Honorius of Autin attribute the introduction and arrangement of the offertories to pope Gregory the Great, but it has. also been referred to Eutychius, c. 180; Celestine I, c. 430; or Adrian I. Singing is used in allusion to Sir 1:12-18. Pope Gregory caused oblations to be made as God had directed by Moses (Exo 23:15). In the first four centuries the offering was made in silence. When a bishop celebrates he goes to the altar after the offertory, and, taking off his gloves, makes the ablution of his fingers. It is, besides, customary to give the name offertory to
(3) a silk napkin in which the deacon wraps the chalice when offered to him by the priest. The subdeacon now has a large scarf placed upon his shoulders, and takes the chalice, over which an attendant spreads the end of the scarf. He then carries the offerings to the deacon, presents the water-cruet, and receives the paten from the celebrant, which he holds enveloped in his scarf, standing behind him since the custom of consecrating upon the corporal was introduced.
The word offertorium is sometimes used (as in the Sarum Missal) for the anthems sung during the collecting and making of these offerings? and sometimes, improperly, for the offerings themselves. Thus Freeman (Principles of Divine Service, ii 345, note g) writes, The offertory, it need hardly be said-whether we mean thereby the words used or the contributions of the people is but a department of the oblation. Boner, on the other hand (Rerum Liturg. II, 8:3), shows from Amalarius and others that the offertory was the whole portion of the service, from the end of the creed to the end of the Oratio Secreta, thus making it include the oblation. But the extent of the offertory in one particular liturgy is not a definition; and an, explanation is perhaps given by Tertullian’s words, Nonne et laici sacerdotes sumus? (De exhort. Castit. p. 668).
In the English liturgy the word oblations is reserved for the offering of that which is designed for the eucharistic service, and the more general term offerings includes both the alms and oblations, as in the definition given above. The practice of a weekly offertory-collection is now revived in some churches in England (for in Ireland it has always been so), and it is the opinion of many that it is highly desirable it should become universal. Others who are not insensible to some of the advantages which would attend such a practice, yet deem it wrong to make collections for all charitable objects indiscriminately through the medium of the offertory, which (they consider) was originally designed for purposes immediately connected with the parish or congregation from which the alms are collected. They think also that this, with all other practices that have fallen into general disuse, however apparently expedient the readoption of them may seem, should not be revived without a recommendation to that effect from the diocesan; certainly not without a careful consideration of the local effect which is likely to be produced by a return to such practice.
The custom of making oblations at the communion is certainly apostolical, as appears from 1Co 16:2 : On the first day of the week let every one lay by him in store as God hath prospered him. This custom continued down to the following ages, as appears from different passages in Justin Martyr, Tertullian. St. Cyprian, St. Ambrose, and other ancient writers. See Coleman, Ancient Christianity, p. 93, 244; Walcott, Sacred Archceol s.v.; Hook, Ch. Dict. s.v.; Siegel, Christl. Alterhumer, s.v. Offertorium; Barnum, Romanism, p. 432; Palmer, Orig. Lit. 2:73 sq.