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