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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > O > Oratory


ORATORY

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(Latin oratorium, from orare, to pray)

As a general term, Oratory signifies a place of prayer, but technically it means
a structure other than a parish church, set aside by ecclesiastical authority
for prayer and the celebration of Mass. Oratories seem to have originated from
the chapels erected over the tombs of the early martyrs where the faithful
resorted to pray, and also from the necessity of having a place of worship for
the people in country districts when churches proper were restricted to
cathedral cities. We also find early mention of private oratories for the
celebration of Mass by bishops, and later of oratories attached to convents and
to the residences of nobles. In the Eastern Church, where the parochial
organization is neither so complete nor so rigid as in the West, private
oratories were so numerous as to constitute an abuse. In the Latin Church
oratories are classed as (1) public, (2) semipublic, and (3) private.




PUBLIC ORATORIES

Are canonically erected by the bishop and are perpetually dedicated to the
Divine service. They must have an entrance and exit from the public road,
Priests who celebrate Mass in public oratories must conform to the office proper
to those oratories, whether secular or regular. If, however, the calendar of an
oratory permits a votive Mass to be said, the visiting priest may celebrate in
conformity with his own diocesan or regular calendar.


SEMIPUBLIC ORATORIES

Are those which, though erected in a private building, are destined for the use
of a community. Such are the oratories of seminaries, pious congregations,
colleges, hospitals, prisons, and such institutions. If, however, there be
several oratories in one house, it is only the one in which the Blessed
Sacrament is preserved that has the privileges of a semipublic oratory. All
semipublic oratories (which class technically includes the private chapel of a
bishop) are on the same footing as public oratories in regard to the celebration
of Mass. The calendar of feasts to be observed in them (unless they belong to a
regular order having its proper calendar) is that of the diocese. In oratories
belonging to nuns, the feasts of their community are to be celebrated in
accordance with the decrees or indults they have received from the Holy See.
Regulars visiting a semipublic oratory cannot celebrate the feasts of saints of
their own order unless the calendar proper to the oratory prescribes the same or
permits of a votive Mass. Public and semipublic oratories are ordinarily under
the control of the bishop. The Congregation of Rites declared (23 Jan., 1899):
"In these (oratories), as, by the authority of the ordinary, the holy sacrifice
of the Mass can be offered, so also all those present thereat can satisfy
thereby the precept which obliges the faithful to hear Mass on prescribed days."
The same decree also gives an authoritative definition of the three species of
oratories.


PRIVATE ORATORIES

Are those erected in private houses for the convenience of some person or family
by an indult of the Holy See. They can be erected only by permission of the
pope. Oratories in private houses date from Apostolic times when the Sacred
Mysteries could not be publicly celebrated owing to the persecutions. Even after
the peace of Constantine, the custom continued to prevail. Kings and nobles
especially had such oratories erected in their palaces. As early as the reign of
Emperor Justinian, we find regulations concerning private oratories as
distinguished from public churches, and prohibitions against saying Mass in
private houses (Novel., lviii and cxxxi). Permissions to celebrate were granted,
however, freely in the West by popes and councils. The latest decree regulating
private oratories is that of the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the
Sacraments of 7 Feb., 1909. According to this, private oratories are conceded by
the Holy See only on account of bodily infirmity, or difficulty of access to a
public church or as a reward for services done to the Holy See or to the
Catholic cause. The grant of a private oratory may be temporary or for the life
of the grantee, according to the nature of the cause that is adduced. In either
case, the simple concession of an oratory implies that only one Mass a day may
be celebrated, that the precept of the Church concerning the hearing of Mass on
prescribed days (certain special festivals generally specified in the indult
excluded) may be there satisfied only by the grantees, and that the
determination of the place, city, and diocese where the oratory is to be erected
is approved. The rescript will be forwarded to the ordinary. The decree then
recites the various extensions of the before-mentioned privileges that may be
conceded to grantees:




AS TO THE SATISFACTION OF THE PRECEPT OF HEARING MASS

This is usually conceded by the indult only to the following: relatives of the
grantee living under the same roof, dependants of the family, and guests or
those who share his table. The others living in the house may not satisfy the
precept except it be a funeral Mass or on account of the distance of the public
church. If the oratory be a rural one, those employed on the estate may there
hear Mass, but in that case the grantee must provide for a catechetical
instruction and an explanation of the Gospel. The same holds for a private
oratory in a camp or castle or a widespread domain. In very peculiar
circumstances (to be judged by the ordinary) all others may also hear Mass in a
private oratory while the conditions prevail.


AS TO HEARING MASS IN THE ABSENCE OF THE GRANTEES

This is allowed in the presence of one of the relatives living under the same
roof, but the concession is to be understood of a temporary absence of the
grantees and that the relative be expressly determined. The same is extended to
the principal one among the familiars, rural servants, or dependants.


AS TO THE NUMBER OF MASSES

If the grantees are two priests who are brothers, both may celebrate Mass. A
thanksgiving Mass is also allowed if the ordinary recommends it. Priests who are
guests may say Mass in the oratory of the house where they are staying if they
have commendatory letters from the ordinary, provided they are infirm or the
church is distant. Several Masses may also be said during the last agony or at
the death or anniversary of one of the grantees and likewise on the feast of his
patron saint.


AS TO GREATER FESTIVALS

By an extension of privileges, Mass may be allowed in private oratories on all
days except on the feast of the local patron, the Assumption, Christmas, and
Easter. Sometimes the concession may extend to the first three feasts, but very
rarely to Easter, and then only on the urgent recommendation of the ordinary,
exception being made for grantees who are infirm priests.


AS TO CONCESSIONS

Sometimes a grantee may have the rights of a private oratory in two dioceses,
but then both ordinaries must give testimonial letters. In case the oratory is
situated in a place where the parish priest has to say two Masses on the same
day, a priest from some other place may say Mass in the oratory but he may not
say another Mass in addition. An oratory near a sick-room is also allowed
occasionally during sickness. This decree likewise allows ordinaries (for ten
cases only) to grant a private oratory to poor priests who are aged and infirm.
It will be noted that this legislation is a very liberal extension of the
provisions formerly governing private oratories.




SOURCES

TAUNTON, Law of the Church (London, 1906), s.v. Oratory; FERRARIS, Bibliotheca
canonica (Rome, 1889), s.v. Oratorium; Analecta Eccles. (Rome, April, 1910).


ABOUT THIS PAGE

APA citation. Fanning, W. (1911). Oratory. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New
York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11271a.htm

MLA citation. Fanning, William. "Oratory." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11.
New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11271a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter.
Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

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