Oratory
ORATORY
A name given by Christians to certain places of religious worship. In ecclesiastical antiquity, the term houses of prayer, or oratories, is frequently given to churches in general, of which there are innumerable instances in ancient Christian writers. But in some canons the name oratory seems confined to private chapels or places of worship set up for the convenience of private families, yet still depending on the parochial churches, and differing from them in this, that they were only places of prayer, but not for celebrating the communion; for if that were at any time allowed to private families, yet, at least, upon the great and solemn festivals, they were to resort for communion to the parish churches. Oratory is used among the Romanists for a closet, or little apartment near a bed-chamber, furnished with a little altar, crucifix, &c. for private devotion. Oratory, Priests of the. There were two congregations of religious, one in Italy, the other in France, which were called by his name. The Priests of the Oratory in Italy had for their founder, St. Phillip de Neri, a native of Florence, who, in the year 1548, founded at Rome the Confraternity of the Holy Trinity. This Society originally consisted of but fifteen poor persons, who assembled in the church of St. Saviour, in campo, every first Sunday in the month, to practise the exercises of piety described by the holy founder.
Afterwards their number increasing by the addition of several persons of distinction of the society, St. Philip proceeded to establish a hospital for the reception of poor pilgrims, who, coming to Rome to visit the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, were obliged, for want of a lodging, to lie in the streets, and at the doors of churches. For this charitable purpose, pope Paul IV. gave to the society the parochial church of St. Benedict, close by which was built a hospital, so large, that in the Jubilee year 1600, it received 444, 500 men, and 25, 500 women, who came in pilgrimage to Rome. The Priest of the Oratory in France were established on the model of those in Italy, and owe their rise to cardinal Berulle, a native of Champagne, who resolved upon this foundation in order to revive the splendour of the ecclesiastical state, which was greatly sunk through the miseries of the civil wars, the increase of heresies, and a general corruption of manners. To this end he assembled a community of ecclesiastics, in 1611, in the suburb of St. James. They obtained the king’s letter patent for their establishment; and, in 1613, pope Paul V. approved this congregation, under the title of the Oratory of Jesus. This congregation consisted of two sorts of persons; the one, as it were, incorporated; the other only associates: the former governed the houses of this institute; the latter were only employed in forming themselves to the life and manners of ecclesiastics. And this was the true spirit of this congregation, in which they taught neither human learning nor theology, but only the virtues of the ecclesiastical life.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
oratory
(Latin: oratorium, from orare, to pray)
As a general term, signifies a place of prayer, but in canon law means a structure, other than a parish church, set aside by ecclesiastical authority for prayer and the celebration of Mass. Oratories are usually connected with monasteries and convents and charitable institutions. The code of canon law distinguishes three kinds of oratories:
public, which is intended for the use of the members of a religious community or of an institution, but which the faithful at large may legitimately attend, at least during divine services, and to which they have access directly from the outside
semi-public, which is intended principally for the use of the religious community in whose house it is erected, and to which the faithful have no right of entry, though they may occasionally be allowed to attend some special function
private, or domestic, which is erected in a private house for the convenience of a private family
New Catholic Dictionary
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Oratory
(Lat. oratorium, from orare, to pray)
As a general term, Oratory signifies a place of prayer, but technically it means a structure other than a parish church, set aside by ecclesiastical authority for prayer and the celebration of Mass. Oratories seem to have originated from the chapels erected over the tombs of the early martyrs where the faithful resorted to pray, and also from the necessity of having a place of worship for the people in country districts when churches proper were restricted to cathedral cities. We also find early mention of private oratories for the celebration of Mass by bishops, and later of oratories attached to convents and to the residences of nobles. In the Eastern Church, where the parochial organization is neither so complete nor so rigid as in the West, private oratories were so numerous as to constitute an abuse. In the Latin Church oratories are classed as (1) public, (2) semipublic, and (3) private.
(1) PUBLIC ORATORIES
Are canonically erected by the bishop and are perpetually dedicated to the Divine service. They must have an entrance and exit from the public road, Priests who celebrate Mass in public oratories must conform to the office proper to those oratories, whether secular or regular. If, however, the calendar of an oratory permits a votive Mass to be said, the visiting priest may celebrate in conformity with his own diocesan or regular calendar.
(2) SEMIPUBLIC ORATORIES
Are those which, though erected in a private building, are destined for the use of a community. Such are the oratories of seminaries, pious congregations, colleges, hospitals, prisons, and such institutions. If, however, there be several oratories in one house, it is only the one in which the Blessed Sacrament is preserved that has the privileges of a semipublic oratory. All semipublic oratories (which class technically includes the private chapel of a bishop) are on the same footing as public oratories in regard to the celebration of Mass. The calendar of feasts to be observed in them (unless they belong to a regular order having its proper calendar) is that of the diocese. In oratories belonging to nuns, the feasts of their community are to be celebrated in accordance with the decrees or indults they have received from the Holy See. Regulars visiting a semipublic oratory cannot celebrate the feasts of saints of their own order unless the calendar proper to the oratory prescribes the same or permits of a votive Mass. Public and semipublic oratories are ordinarily under the control of the bishop. The Congregation of Rites declared (23 Jan., 1899): “In these (oratories), as, by the authority of the ordinary, the holy sacrifice of the Mass can be offered, so also all those present thereat can satisfy thereby the precept which obliges the faithful to hear Mass on prescribed days.” The same decree also gives an authoritative definition of the three species of oratories.
(3) PRIVATE ORATORIES
Are those erected in private houses for the convenience of some person or family by an indult of the Holy See. They can be erected only by permission of the pope. Oratories in private houses date from Apostolic times when the Sacred Mysteries could not be publicly celebrated owing to the persecutions. Even after the peace of Constantine, the custom continued to prevail. Kings and nobles especially had such oratories erected in their palaces. As early as the reign of Emperor Justinian, we find regulations concerning private oratories as distinguished from public churches, and prohibitions against saying Mass in private houses (Novel., lviii and cxxxi). Permissions to celebrate were granted, however, freely in the West by popes and councils. The latest decree regulating private oratories is that of the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments of 7 Feb., 1909. According to this, private oratories are conceded by the Holy See only on account of bodily infirmity, or difficulty of access to a public church or as a reward for services done to the Holy See or to the Catholic cause. The grant of a private oratory may be temporary or for the life of the grantee, according to the nature of the cause that is adduced. In either case, the simple concession of an oratory implies that only one Mass a day may be celebrated, that the precept of the Church concerning the hearing of Mass on prescribed days (certain special festivals generally specified in the indult excluded) may be there satisfied only by the grantees, and that the determination of the place, city, and diocese where the oratory is to be erected is approved. The rescript will be forwarded to the ordinary. The decree then recites the various extensions of the before-mentioned privileges that may be conceded to grantees:
(a) As to the satisfaction of the precept of hearing Mass
This is usually conceded by the indult only to the following: relatives of the grantee living under the same roof, dependants of the family, and guests or those who share his table. The others living in the house may not satisfy the precept except it be a funeral Mass or on account of the distance of the public church. If the oratory be a rural one, those employed on the estate may there hear Mass, but in that case the grantee must provide for a catechetical instruction and an explanation of the Gospel. The same holds for a private oratory in a camp or castle or a widespread domain. In very peculiar circumstances (to be judged by the ordinary) all others may also hear Mass in a private oratory while the conditions prevail.
(b) As to hearing Mass in the absence of the grantees
This is allowed in the presence of one of the relatives living under the same roof, but the concession is to be understood of a temporary absence of the grantees and that the relative be expressly determined. The same is extended to the principal one among the familiars, rural servants, or dependants.
(c) As to the number of Masses
If the grantees are two priests who are brothers, both may celebrate Mass. A thanksgiving Mass is also allowed if the ordinary recommends it. Priests who are guests may say Mass in the oratory of the house where they are staying if they have commendatory letters from the ordinary, provided they are infirm or the church is distant. Several Masses may also be said during the last agony or at the death or anniversary of one of the grantees and likewise on the feast of his patron saint.
(d) As to greater festivals
By an extension of privileges, Mass may be allowed in private oratories on all days except on the feast of the local patron, the Assumption, Christmas, and Easter. Sometimes the concession may extend to the first three feasts, but very rarely to Easter, and then only on the urgent recommendation of the ordinary, exception being made for grantees who are infirm priests.
(e) As to concessions
Sometimes a grantee may have the rights of a private oratory in two dioceses, but then both ordinaries must give testimonial letters. In case the oratory is situated in a place where the parish priest has to say two Masses on the same day, a priest from some other place may say Mass in the oratory but he may not say another Mass in addition. An oratory near a sick-room is also allowed occasionally during sickness. This decree likewise allows ordinaries (for ten cases only) to grant a private oratory to poor priests who are aged and infirm. It will be noted that this legislation is a very liberal extension of the provisions formerly governing private oratories.
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TAUNTON, Law of the Church (London, 1906), s. v. Oratory; FERRARIS, Bibliotheca canonica (Rome, 1889), s. v. Oratorium; Analecta Eccles. (Rome, April, 1910).
WILLIAM H. W. FANNING. Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ
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
Oratory
is the Latin name which was anciently given to places of public worship in general, as being houses of prayer, SEE PROSEUCHA; but in later times, in contradistinction from ecclesia, has been applied to smaller or domestic chapels. Oratory is used among the Romanists to denote a closet or little apartment near a bedchamber, furnished with a little altar, crucifix, and other furniture, suited, in their view, to a place for private devotion. It is more correctly applied to such a place of worship as Luke refers to in Acts 13 an upper chamber, in which the early Christians worshipped for safety, to preserve their secret discipline from the knowledge of the heathen, and in distinction from the pagan exhibition of graven images on the ground-floor of buildings, and also in memory of the place of the Last Supper. The rise of private places of worship, called , outlasted the times of persecution, and were permitted, under certain restrictions, by the councils of Saragossa (A.D.). 381) and Gangra. The name oratory is also applied to a chapel in which no mass may be said without permission of the ordinary. There are several kinds: 1, a monk’s cell; 2, a private chapel, recognised by the Council of Ayde (506); 3, a chapel in the country without a district; 4, the private portion of a minster reserved for the use of the convent; the choir; a chapel attached to the chapter-house; 5, in the 6th or 7th century a burial chapel, or a chapel in a cemetery, in which mass was said at times, when the bishop sent a priest to celebrate; 6, a chantry chapel in a church. In 1027 Alexis, patriarch of Constantinople, condemned the abuse of oratories, in which persons of power had assumed to have baptism administered and to assemble congregations under a license. The private chapel of the dukes of Burgundy was rebuilt as the cathedral of Autun; the chateau of the Bourbons became that of Moulins. The ancient Cornish oratories are simple parallelograms, and contain a stone altar and well; they are sometimes raised on artificial mounds. In the Middle Ages oratories became a common appendage to the castles and residences of the nobility, and were of two kinds: the first simply for private and family prayer and other devotions; the second for celebration of mass. The latter fell properly under the jurisdiction of the bishop or the parochial clergy, and many jealousies and disputes grew out of their establishment or direction. The Council of Trent (sess. 22, Di Reformatione) placed them under very stringent regulations, which have been enforced and developed by later popes, especially by Benedict XIV. See Walcott, Sacred Archaeology, s.v.; Riddle, Christian Antiquities, , 703, 721. SEE CHAPEL.