Collect

Collect

Controlling authority	Roman Missal; GIRM 54 and 363; applicable proper, Common, or seasonal formulary
Classification	Presidential oration of the Roman Mass; distinct from the Prayer over the Offerings and Prayer after Communion

Collect is the presidential prayer that concludes the Introductory Rites of Mass, gathering the silent prayer of the assembled faithful and expressing the character of the celebration before the Liturgy of the Word begins.

Disciplinary status: Church discipline

Overview

The collect (/ˈkɒlɛkt/ KOL-ekt) is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy.

Collects come up in the liturgies of Catholic, Lutheran, or Anglican churches, among others.

The prayer that gathers the assembly's petition

After the invitation Let us pray, priest and people observe a brief silence so that all become aware of God's presence and formulate their petitions. The priest then extends his hands and sings or says the Collect. The prayer gathers the assembly's prayer and gives expression to the celebration; the people make it their own through the acclamation Amen.

Because it is presidential, the Collect is addressed aloud by the priest who presides, not divided among readers or replaced with spontaneous intercessions. The faithful truly participate through attentive silence, assent, and the common Amen. The prayer does not belong to the homily, and its brevity should not be mistaken for ceremonial filler between the Penitential Act or Gloria and the readings.

Structure and conclusion

Roman collects commonly invoke God, recall a divine work or attribute, state a petition, and conclude through Christ in a Trinitarian formula appropriate to the prayer's address. Not every text displays each element mechanically. The approved conclusion is part of the oration and should not be shortened, duplicated, or replaced by an improvised formula.

Silence and the people's Amen

The invitation is followed by real though brief silence unless circumstances have already supplied it in the precise place envisioned by the rite. The people do not merely listen to the priest's private devotion: their silent petitions are collected in the Church's prayer, and Amen ratifies it. Background commentary or music should not occupy that silence.

Proper texts, Commons, and lawful choice

The proper Collect of the Mass is used unless the rubrics provide otherwise. On a saint's memorial, a proper Collect is said or, if lacking, one from the appropriate Common. On weekdays in Ordinary Time the Missal permits specified choices from other Sundays or Masses for Various Needs, and it can permit use of a Collect alone from such formularies. Seasonal weekdays of greater importance carry their own texts.

These options belong to the Missal; they are not permission to compose a prayer locally. A diocesan or religious proper can supply an approved Collect for its celebration. Translation and publication follow canon 838, and a newly inscribed celebration normally comes with at least a Latin Collect for insertion and later confirmed vernacular use.

Theology, history, and terminology

The Collect's dense language often joins praise, remembrance, petition, Christology, grace, moral transformation, and eschatological hope. Its proposition-level doctrinal weight follows the liturgical Magisterium and the truths it expresses; not every poetic clause is a new dogmatic definition. Repeated use forms Catholic prayer precisely because the Church receives these texts as part of public worship.

Opening prayer is a common explanatory label, but Collect is the precise Roman term. It should not be confused with the older collecta meaning a gathering place or with a financial collection. Encyclopedic treatment should identify the celebration, Latin incipit, edition, source tradition where known, approved translation, and any later emendation without exposing licensing data in ordinary reader captions or prose.

Etymology

The word is first seen as Latin collēcta, the term used in Rome in the 5th century and the 10th, although in the Tridentine version of the Roman Missal the more generic term oratio (prayer) was used instead.

The Latin word collēcta meant the gathering of people together (from colligō, "to gather") and may have been applied to this prayer as said before the procession to the church in which Mass was celebrated. It may also have been used to mean a prayer that collected into one the prayers of the individual members of the congregation.

Structure

A collect generally has five parts:^{: 250}

• Invocation or address: indicating the person of Trinity addressed, usually God the Father, rarely God the Son
• Acknowledgement: description of a divine attribute that relates to the petition (often qui... - who... )
• Petition: "for one thing only and that in the tersest language"^{: 249}
• Aspiration:
  • The desired result (begins with the word ut - in order that)
  • Indication of a further purpose of the petition
• Pleading:
  • Conclusion indicating the mediation of Jesus Christ.
  • Response by the people: Amen

In some contemporary liturgical texts, this structure has been obscured by sentence constructions that depart from the straightforwardness of a single sentence.

Variations

Roman Catholicism

Initially, only one collect was said at Mass, but the Tridentine version of the Roman Missal allowed and often prescribed the use of more than one collect, all but the first being recited under a single conclusion. This custom, which began north of the Alps, had reached Rome by about the 12th century.^{: 248}

In the 1973 translation of the Roman Missal by the ICEL, the word collecta was rendered as "Opening Prayer". This was a misnomer, since the collect ends—rather than opens—the introductory rites of the Mass. This prayer is said immediately before the Epistle.

Lutheranism

Lutheran liturgies typically retain traditional collects for each Sunday of the liturgical year. In the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal of the ELCA, however, the set of prayers has been expanded to incorporate different Sunday collects for each year of the lectionary cycle, so that the prayers more closely coordinate with the lectionary scripture readings for the day. To achieve this expansion from one year's worth of Sunday collects to three years', modern prayer texts have been added.

Anglicanism

The collects in the Book of Common Prayer are mainly translations by Thomas Cranmer (d. 1556) from the Latin prayers for each Sunday of the year. At Morning Prayer, the Collect of the Day is followed by a Collect for Peace and a Collect for Grace. At Evening Prayer the Collect of the Day is followed by a Collect for Peace which differs from the version used at Morning Prayer, and a Collect for Aid against Perils, which starts with the well known phrase; "Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night...".

At Holy Communion, the Collect of the Day is followed by a reading from the Epistles. In more modern Anglican versions of the Communion service, such as Common Worship used in the Church of England or the 1979 Book of Common Prayer used in the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Collect of the Day follows the Gloria and precedes readings from the Bible.

Continental Reformed

The Huguenots used collects derived from the Psalms and published in the Psalter in 1563.

Scottish Presbyterianism

The "Oraisons" of the French Psalter were translated by and published in the Scottish Metrical Psalter in 1595. Over time the use of written prayers fell out of favor in the Church of Scotland.

See also

• Secret (liturgy)
• Kontakion
• Stir-up Sunday

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

The name now used only for short prayers before the Epistle in the Mass, which occur again at Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, and Vespers. The word collecta corresponds to the Greek synaxis. It is a noun, a late form for collectio (so missa for missio, oblata for oblatio, ascensa, in the Gelasian Sacramentary, for ascensio, etc.). The original meaning seems to have been this: it was used for the service held at a certain church on the days when there was a station somewhere else. The people gathered together and became a "collection" at this first church; after certain prayers had been said they went in procession to the station-church. Just before they started the celebrant said a prayer, the oratio ad collectam (ad collectionem populi); the name would then be the same as oratio super populum, a title that still remains in our Missal, in Lent for instance after the Post-Communion. This prayer, the Collect, would be repeated at the beginning of the Mass at the station itself (Bona, Rer. liturg., II, 5). Later writers find other meanings for the name. Innocent III says that in this prayer the priest collects together the prayers of all the people (De Sacr. altaris myst., II, 27; see also Benedict XIV, De SS. Missæ sacr., II, 5). The Secret and Post-Communion are also collects, formed on the same model as the one before the Epistle. Now the name is only used for the first of the three. Originally there was only one collect (and one Secret and Post-Communion) for each Mass. The older sacramentaries never provide more than one. Amalarius of Metz (d. 857) says (De officiis eccl., in P.L., CV, 985 sqq.) that in his time some priests began to say more than one collect, but that at Rome only one was used. Micrologus [De eccl. observ., probably by Bernold of Constance (d.1100), in P.L., CLI, 973 sqq.] defends the old custom and says that "one Prayer should be said, as one Epistle and one Gospel". However, the number of collects was multiplied till gradually our present rule was evolved.

The way in which our collects are now said at Mass is the fragment of a more elaborate rite. Of this longer rite we still have a vestige on Good Friday. The celebrant, after greeting the people (Dominus vobiscum), invited them to pray for some intention: Oremus, dilectissimi nobis, etc. The deacon said: Flectamus genua, and all knelt for a time in silent prayer. The subdeacon then told them to stand up again (Levate), and, all standing, the celebrant closed the private prayers with the short form that is the collect. Of this rite -- except on Good Friday -- the shortening of the Mass, which has affected all its parts, has only left the greeting Oremus and the collect itself. Here, as always, it is in Holy Week that we find the older form. It should be noted, then, that the Oremus did not refer immediately to the collect, but rather to the silent prayer that went before it. This also explains the shortness of the older collects. They are not the prayer itself, but its conclusion. One short sentence summed up the petitions of the people. It is only since the original meaning of the collect has been forgotten that it has become itself a long petition with various references and clauses (compare the collects for the Sundays after Pentecost with those for the modern feasts). On all feast-days the collect naturally contains a reference to the event whose memory we celebrate. Its preparation is the kissing of the altar and the Dominus vobiscum. Before inviting the people to make this prayer the celebrant greets them, and, before turning his back to the altar in order to do so, he salutes it in the usual way by kissing it. The form Dominus vobiscum is the common greeting in the West. It occurs in the Gallican, Milanese, and Mozarabic Liturgies under the form: Dominus sit semper vobiscum. Germanus of Paris notes it as the priest's (not bishop's) greeting (P.L., LXXVII, 89). It is taken from the Bible. When Booze came from Bethlehem he said, "The Spirit be with you", to the reapers (Ruth, ii, 4), and St. Gabriel used the same form to Our Lady at the Annunciation (Luke, i, 28; cf. II Thess., iii, 16). A bishop here says, Pax vobis, unless the Mass has no Gloria, in which case his greeting is the same as that of the priest (Ritus celebr., V, I). This distinction is as old as the tenth century (Ordo Rom., XIV, 79, notes it). The Pax is a joyful and solemn greeting to be left out on days of penance. Its connection with the Gloria, that has just gone before (et in terra pax hominibus), is obvious. The greeting of peace (eirene pasin) is the common one in the Eastern liturgies. In either case the answer is: Et cum spiritu tuo. This is a Hebraism that occurs constantly in both the Old and the New Testament. "Thy spirit" simply means "thee" (Cf. e.g. Dan., iii, 86; Gal., vi, 18; Phil., iv, 23; Philem., 25). Nefesh (Heb.), Nafs (Ar.), with a pronominal suffix, in all Semitic languages means simply the person in question. The Eastern liturgies have the same answer, kai meta tou pneumatos sou (and with thy spirit), as in the Apostolic Constitutions (Brightman, Eastern Lit. 3, 13), or kai to pneumati sou (ibid., 49, 137, etc.).

At the Dominus vobiscum the celebrant, facing the people, extends and then again joins his hands. It is here a gesture of greeting. With folded hands he turns back to the altar and goes to the Missal at the Epistle side. Here, again extending and joining the hands and bowing towards the cross, he sings or says Oremus, and then, with uplifted hands (not above the shoulder, Ritus Celebr., V, 1), goes on at once with the collect or collects. The present rule about the collects is this: on doubles only one collect is said (that of the feast), unless any other feast be commemorated, or the pope or bishop order an oratio imperata. The imperata is, moreover, omitted on doubles of the first class, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, the eves of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsunday, in Requiems, and solemn votive Masses. On doubles of the second class it is left out in high and sung Masses, and may be said at the others or not, at the celebrant's discretion. For a very grave cause an imperata may be ordered to be said always, even on these occasions. It always comes last (De Herdt, I, 72). The collect of the Blessed Sacrament, to be said when it is exposed, and that for the pope or bishop on the anniversary of their election, coronation, or consecration, are particular cases of imperatæ. The rules for commemoration of feasts, octaves, ember days, and ferias of Advent and Lent are given in the rubrics of the Missal (Rubr. Gen., VII; cf. De Herdt, I, 70-71). On semi-doubles, Sundays, and days within an octave, three collects must be said; but on Passion Sunday, on Sundays within an octave and throughout the octaves of Easter and Whitsunday there are only two (Rubr. Gen., IX; De Herdt, I, 75, where the rules for these collects will found). But in these cases the number may be greater, if there are commemorations. On simples, ferias, and in Requiems and (not solemn) votive Masses, the celebrant may also add collects, as he chooses, provided the total number be an uneven one and do not exceed seven (Rubr. Gen., IX, 12; De Herdt, I, 83).

The rule about the uneven numbers, on which the S. Congr. Rit, has insisted several times (2 December, 1684; 2 September, 1741; 30 June, 1896), is a curious one. The limit of seven prevents the Mass from being too long. In any case the collect of the day always comes first. It has Oremus before it and the long conclusion (Per Dominum, etc.). The second collect has a second Oremus, and all that follow are joined together without intermediate ending nor Oremus till the last, which again has the long conclusion. This separates the collect of the day from the others and gives it a special dignity, as a remnant of the old principle that it alone should be said. The conclusions of the collects vary according to their form and references (Rubr. Gen., IX, 17). The people (choir or server answer Amen. During the conclusions the celebrant folds his hands and bows towards the cross at the words Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. It should be noted that the great majority of the collects are addressed to God the Father (so all the old ones; the common form is to begin: Deus, qui); a few later ones (as on Corpus Christi, for example) are addressed to God the Son, none to the Holy Ghost. At low Mass collects are said aloud so that they can be heard by the people, at high (or sung) Mass they are sung to the festive tone on doubles, semi-doubles, and Sundays. On simples, ferias, and in Masses for the dead, they have the simple ferial tone (entirely on one note, fa). The rules of the tones, with examples, are in the "Cæremoniale Episcoporum" I, xxvii. At high Mass the deacon and subdeacon stand in a straight line behind the celebrant (the deacon on the top step, the subdeacon in plano) with joined hands. At the collects, in high Mass, the people should stand. This is the old position for public prayer; originally the subdeacon explicitly told them to do so (Levate). The custom of standing during the collects, long neglected, is now being happily revived. At low Mass they kneel all the time except during the Gospel (Rubr. Gen., XVII, 2).

"Rubricæ generales Missalis," VII, IX, XVI, XVII; "Ritus celebrandi," V"; Cæremoniale Episcoporum," I, xxvii; BENEDICT XIV, "De SS. Missæ Sacrificio", II, v; GIHR, "Das heilige Messopfer" (Freiburg im Br., 1897), II §39, 374-399. See also the sacramentaries, texts, and commentaries quoted in the article.