Offertory

Offertory (Lat. offertorium, from offero, 'I offer') is the name given to that portion of the public liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church with which the eucharistic service, strictly so called, commences (see LITURGY). This offering of the bread and wine in the public service became, from a very early period, the occasion of a voluntary offering, on the part of the faithful; originally, it would seem, of the bread and wine designed for the eucharistic celebration and for the communion of the priest and the congregation. By degrees other gifts were superadded to those of bread and wine—as of corn, oil, wax, honey, eggs, butter, fruits, lambs, fowl, and other animals; and eventually of equivalents in money or other objects of value. The last-named class of offerings, however, was not so commonly made upon the altar and during the public liturgy as in the form of free gifts presented on the occasion of other ministerial services, as of baptism, marriages, funerals, &c.; and from this has arisen the practice in the Roman Catholic Church of the mass-offering, or honorarium, which is given to a priest with the understanding that he shall offer the mass for the intention (whence the honorarium itself is often called an 'intention') of the offerent. See also COLLECTIONS.