Orate, Fratres
Orate Fratres (2)
A review devoted to the popularization of the Liturgy published every four weeks (thirteen issues annually) by the Liturgical Press (the Order of Saint Benedict, Inc.), Collegeville, Minnesota; founded 1926.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
orate fratres
(Latin: pray, brethren)
The exhortation addressed to the people by the celebrant immediately after the Offertory and ablutions in the Mass and immediately preceding the Secrets, the server responding in the name of the congregation. In this prayer the priest prays that his sacrifice and that of those attending may be acceptable to God.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Orate Fratres
The exhortation (“Pray brethren that my sacrifice and yours be acceptable to God the Father almighty”) addressed by the celebrant to the people before the Secrets in the Roman Mass. It is answered: “May the Lord receive the sacrifice from thy hands to the praise and glory of his name, and for our benefit also and for that of all his holy Church.” The celebrant adds: “Amen”. The form is merely an expansion of the usual Oremus before any prayer. It is a medieval amplification. The Jacobite rite has an almost identical form before the Anaphora (Brightman, “Eastern Liturgies”, Oxford, 1896, 83); the Nestorian celebrant says: “My brethren, pray for me” (ib., 274). Such invitations, often made by the deacon, are common in the Eastern rites. The Gallican rite had a similar one (Duchesne, “Christian Worship”, London, 1904, 109). The Mozarabic invitation at this place is: “Help me brethren by your prayers and pray to God for me” (P.L. LXXXV, 537). The medieval derived rites had similar formulæ (e. g. “Missale Sarum”, Burntisland, 1861-3, 596). Many of the old Roman Secrets (really Offertory prayers) contain the same ideas. Durandus knows the Orate Fratres in a slightly different form (“Rationale”, IV, 32). A proof that it is not an integral part of the old Roman Mass is that it is always said, not sung, aloud (as also are the prayers at the foot of the altar, the last Gospel etc.). The celebrant after the “Suscipe Sancta Trinitas” kisses the altar, turns to the people and says: Orate fratres, extending and joining his hands. Turning back he finishes the sentence inaudibly. At high Mass the deacon or subdeacon, at low Mass the server, answers. The rubric of the Missal is: “The server or people around answer, if not the priest himself.” In this last case he naturally changes the word tuis to meis.
———————————–
GIHR, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (3rd ed., St. Louis, 1908), 547-50.
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
Orate, Fratres
(i.e. Pray, Brethren), is the technical term of the Romanists applied to the celebrant priest’s exhortation at mass when the Church is about to engage in secret prayer for God’s acceptance of the sacrifice offered. It precedes the Preface (q.v.), and follows immediately after the celebrant has pronounced this prayer:
Receive, holy Trinity, this oblation, which we offer to thee in commemoration of the suffering, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord, and to the honor of blessed Mary ever Virgin, and of blessed John the Baptist, and of holy apostles Peter and Paul, and not only of those, but also of all saints; that it may profit them unto honor, but us unto salvation: and that they may deign to intercede for us in heaven; whose memory we celebrate on the earth. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. The celebrant then says the words Orate, Fratres, with his voice a little elevated; but the remainder [that my and your sacrifice may be acceptable with God the Almighty Father] is said inaudibly, or in a perfectly under tone. Then the priest turns round to the altar and joins his hands before his breast; and the attendant or bystanders answer, or otherwise the priest himself May the Lord receive the sacrifice from thy (or my) hands, to the praise and glory of his name, to our profit also, and that of all his own holy Church. The priest, with a loud voice, says Amen. The secret prayer or prayers which follow are variable, and correspond with the collects for the day or occasion. At the conclusion of these the priest says in a distinct voice, or sings, Per omnia scecula sceculorum (=Through all the ages of ages, i.e. world without end); the choir answers, Amen the priest follows, Dominus vobiscum (=The Lord be with you); the response is, it cum spiritu tuo (=And with thy spirit); the priest says, Sursum corda (=Lift up your hearts); and is answered, Habemus ad Dominunm (=We have, unto the Lord); then the priest, Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro (=Let us give thanks to the Lord our God); and the choir, Dignum etjustum est (=It is proper and right); after which he says or sings the preface. See Barnum, Romanism as it is, p. 434.