Offertory

Collection boxes, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Simon Stock, Kensington, London

The offertory (from Medieval Latin offertorium and Late Latin offerre) is the part of a Eucharistic service when the bread and wine for use in the service are ceremonially placed on the altar.

A collection of alms (offerings) from the congregation, which may take place also at non-Eucharistic services, often coincides with this ceremony.

The Eucharistic theology may vary among those Christian denominations that have a liturgical offertory.

In the Roman Rite, the term "Preparation of the Gifts" is used in addition to the term "Offertory" (both capitalized) or, rather, the term "Preparation of the Gifts" is used for the action of the priest, while the term "Offertory" is used for the section of the Mass at which this action is performed in particular when speaking of the accompanying chant. In the Lutheran Mass, the Offertory includes the presentation of the eucharistic gifts at the altar by the churchwardens, the bringing up of the collection to the altar, and the prayer of the priest (pastor): "Receive us and our gifts for the sake of Jesus Christ".

In Baptist churches, the offertory refers to the part of the service of worship in which collection plates or baskets are distributed by ushers, with the tithes and offerings subsequently being brought to the chancel.

Offertory hymns are often sung during preparation and collection.

Liturgical action

In the Roman Rite, the offertory is the first part of the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The altar is first prepared by placing on it the corporal, purificator, missal and chalice. The bread and wine, and perhaps other offerings or gifts for the poor or for the Church, are presented by the faithful in a procession to the accompaniment of an offertory chant. The priest places first the bread and then the wine on the altar while saying the prescribed prayers, after which he may incense them together with the cross and the altar. The priest and the people may also be incensed. After washing his hands at the side of the altar, the priest says the Prayer over the Offerings. This was originally the only prayer said at the offertory of the Roman Rite.

There are variations in other rites. For instance, in the Dominican Rite a single prayer was said at the offertory over the bread and wine, which have already been prepared on the altar at an earlier part of the Mass.

In the Byzantine Rite, there is a short offertory at the same point as in the Roman Rite. A more elaborate ceremonial, the Liturgy of Preparation, takes place before the public part of the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.

Music

In the Roman Rite, the procession bringing the gifts is accompanied by the Offertory Chant, and singing may accompany the offertory even if there is no procession. Before 1970, the priest said the Prayer over the Offerings silently because during the offertory the people, at an earlier time, sang a psalm or, in responsorial fashion, repeated a refrain while a soloist sang the verses of the psalm. In the Tridentine Mass, only the choir sang the refrain alone to an elaborate setting. The priest read the refrain at the beginning of the offertory not only at a Low Mass, which was without singing, but also at a Solemn Mass.

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England includes "offertory sentences" which are to be read at this point. Current practice in Anglican churches favours the singing of a congregational hymn (the "offertory hymn") or an anthem sung by the choir, and often both. In some churches music at the offertory is provided by an organist.

The offertory hymn in the Latin Mass for the Dead (Requiem) is "Domine Iesu Christe". It has been set by many composers.

"Herr, wir bringen in Brot und Wein" (Lord, we bring in bread and wine) is a 1970 offertory hymn in German, based on a Dutch text. Another hymn in that style is "Alle Menschen höret auf dies neue Lied", written in Dutch in 1966 and translated into German in 1972. Also in 1972, Lothar Zenetti wrote the hymn "Das eine Brot wächst auf vielen Halmen". In 2009, Raymund Weber wrote a German text, "Nimm, o Gott, die Gaben, die wir bringen", to a melody from Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Jesus Christ Superstar.

Collection of alms

In Justin Martyr's First Apology, dated between AD 155–157, he writes that "at a certain point in the celebration":

"they who are well-to-do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succors the orphans and widows, and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need".

In traditional forms of Christianity, a tithe (the first tenth of one's income) is seen as what is owed to God, while alms (offerings) are anything contributed beyond that.

During the offertory or immediately before it, a collection of money or other gifts for the poor or for the church is taken up. In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, as well as the Lutheran Churches, these offerings may be brought forward together with the bread and wine, but they are to be placed "in a suitable place but away from the Eucharistic table".

In many Anglican, Baptist and Methodist churches, a collection plate, basket or bag is often used during the offertory to gather the gifts of the faithful (tithes and alms) for the support of the church and for charity. These may then be brought into the chancel.

A "second collection" to provide financial support to a particular good cause sometimes takes place at the end of a service. The second collection can, however, be collected during the service and also taken up during the offertory.

See also

• Mite box – box used to collect offerings in some Christian churches
• Saisen – coin boxes in Japanese temples and shrines
• Tithe – a periodic donation to a church, originally ten percent of one's income

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

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.

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.

External links

• "Offertory". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 20 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 16.