BIDDING-PRAYER, the formula of exhortation to prayer said in England before the sermon in cathedrals, at university ser mons, in the Inns of Court, and elsewhere on special occasions. Such formulae are of great antiquity in both eastern and western Churches. The characteristic feature is that the minister tells the people what to pray for. Thus in England in the i6th century they were told what to remember in "bidding their beads" (O. E. biddan, to pray, cf. Ger. beten) . In course of time the word "bid" in the sense of "pray" became obsolete, and the bidding prayer has come to mean the exhortation itself.