OFFERTOR7
218
OFFERTORY
I. History. — The idea of this preparatory hal-
lowing of the matter of the sacrifice by otTering 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 th(>- ari> 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., Ixv, cf. l.\vii).
But soon the placing of the otTering on the altar was
accompanied by a ])rayer that (lod should accept
these gifts, sanctify them, change them into the Body
and Blood of his Son, anil give us in return the grace
of Communion. The Liturgy of "Apost. Const.",
Vm, says: "The deacons bring the gifts to the bishop
at the altar . . . the bishop having prayed silently
with the priests" . . . (xii, 3-4). This silent prayer
is undoubt.^dly 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 Galilean) rites
prepare the gift before the Liturgy begins. This cer-
emony (TTpoaKofuS^) is especially elaborate in the By-
zantine and its derived rites. It takes place on the
credence table. The bread and wine are arranged,
dividod, 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
F'aithful. This leaves no room for another offertory
then. Howe\'er, 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 pre-
paring the gifts when they are wanted at the begin-
ning 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 pecu-
liarity, 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 oblala 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 men-
tioned in the " Apost. Const."; its reason is that mean-
while the people sang a psalm (tlie 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 pres-
ent 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
Galilean) 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 Offertorj- before the Secret" (cxi, P. L., CLI, 984).
He mentions the later Offertory prayers as a "Galilean
order" and says that they occur "not from any law
but as an ecclesiastical custom". The medieval Of-
fertory prayers vary considerably. They were es-
tablished at Rome by the fourteenth century (Ordo
Rom. XIV., 5.3, P. L., LXXVIII, 1165). The present
Rotnan prayers were compiled from various sources,
Galilean or Mozarabic. The praj'er "Suscipe sancte
pater" occurs in Charles the Bald's (875-877) prayer
book; "Deus qui humana; substantiEE" is modified
from a Christmas Collect in the Gregorian Sacrament-
ary (P. L., LXXVIII, 32); "Offerimus tibi Domine"
and "Veni sanctificator" (fragment of an old Epikle-
sis, Iloppe, "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 amplifi-
cations 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: "banc immaciilatam hos-
tiam" and "calicem salutaris" dramatically antici-
pate the moment of consecration, as does the Byzan-
tine Clieruhikon.
While the Offertory is made the people (choir) sing a verse (the Offerlorium 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 Antiph- onary 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). Du- randus 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 offer- ing of bread and wine. Only the requiem has pre- served a longer offertory with one verse and the repe- tition 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 ap- proved hymn or chant. Meanwhile the celebrant first says the Offertory chant. The corporal has been spread on the altar during the creed. The subdeaoon 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 humanx sub- stantia;". The deacon hands the chalice to the cele- brant, 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 betiedic. Then follows the incensing of the altar and the Lavabo (q. v.). The use of incense at this point is medieval and not originally Roman (rem- nant of the incense at the Galilean procession of the oblata?). Micrologus notes that the Roman order uses incense at the Gospel, not at the Offertory; but he ad- mits that in his time (eleventh century) the oblata are incensed by nearly everyone (De Eccl. Observ., IX). Finally, after the Lavabo the celebrant at the middle of the altar, looking up and then bowing down, says
