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 presentOffertory 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.
Publication information
Written by Adrian Fortescue. Transcribed by Tony de Melo.
The Catholic Encyclopedia,
Volume XI. Published 1911. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil
Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur.
+John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Bibliography
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.
