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Webster 1913 Edition
Offertory
Of′fer-to-ry
,Noun.
pl.
Offertories
. [L.
offertorium
the place to which offerings were brought, in LL. offertory: cf. F. offertoire
.] 1.
The act of offering, or the thing offered.
[Obs. or R.]
Bacon.
Bp. Fell.
2.
(R. C. Ch.)
(a)
An anthem chanted, or a voluntary played on the organ, during the offering and first part of the Mass.
(b)
That part of the Mass which the priest reads before uncovering the chalice to offer up the elements for consecration.
(c)
The oblation of the elements.
3.
(Ch. of Eng. & Prot. Epis. Ch.)
(a)
The Scripture sentences said or sung during the collection of the offerings.
(b)
The offerings themselves.
Webster 1828 Edition
Offertory
OF'FERTORY
,Noun.
1.
Offertory was properly an anthem chanted or a voluntary played on the organ during the offering and a part of the mass, in the Catholic church; but since the reformation it denotes certain sentences in the communion-office, read while the alms are collecting.2.
Anciently, the linen on which the offering was laid.Definition 2024
offertory
offertory
English
Noun
offertory (plural offertories)
- (Christianity) An anthem formerly sung as part of the Roman Catholic Mass or during the corresponding part of the Anglican Communion. [from 14th c.]
- c.1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales:
- But alderbest he sang an offertory: / For well he wiste, when that song was sung, / He muste preach […].
- 1922, Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt:
- There was an impressive musical program, conducted by Sheldon Smeeth, educational director of the Y.M.C.A., who also sang the offertory.
- c.1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales:
- (Christianity) The part of the Eucharist service when offerings of bread and wine are placed on the altar and when any collection is taken; also, the money or other things collected. [from 15th c.]
- 1914, Stephen Leacock, Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich:
- Before a month had passed the congregation at the evening service at St. Asaph's Church was so slender that the offertory, as Mr. Furlong senior himself calculated, was scarcely sufficient to pay the overhead charge of collecting it.
- 1922, Upton Sinclair, They Call Me Carpenter:
- I sat through the sermon, and the offertory, and the recessional.
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 30:
- Even the coins in the offertory were accredited with magical value; there were numerous popular superstitions about the magical value of communion silver as a cure for illness or a lucky charm against danger.
- 1914, Stephen Leacock, Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich:
Related terms
Translations
the offering of sacremental bread and wine to God during a church service
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money offered or donated during a church service
music sung or played during the offertory of a church service
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