OFFERTORY (Let. offeriorium, 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. In the Roman liturgy it consists of one or two verses from some book of Scripture, generally from the Old Testament, but sometimes also from the epistles. In the Ambrosian liturgy it consists of a prayer, similar in form to the collect or secret of the mass; and in both, this recital is followed by the preparatory offering up of the bread and wine, accompanied by certain ceremonies and forms of prayer.
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, sometimes even ,including the absent members, and also for the agape, or common sacred feast, which accompanied it. That portion of the offerings which remained in excess of what was requisite for these pur poses was applied to the relief of the poor, and to the support of the clergy. These offerings were ordinarily made by the faithful in person, and were laid upon the altar: and the Ambrosian rite still preserves this usage in a ceremonial which may be witnessed in the cathedral of Milan. 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 event•illy 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 (lur ing the public liturgy, as in the form of free gifts presented on the occasion of other ministerial services, as of baptism, marriages, funerals, etc. ; 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 be shall offer the mass for the intention (whence the honorarium itself is often called an " intention") of the offerent. In some places, however, and among them in some parts of Ireland, offerings "in kind" are still in use, not indeed in the form of the ancient offertory, but in the shape of contributions of corn, hay, etc., at stated seasons, for the use of the parochial clergy. At weddings also, and in some places at funerals, offerings in money are made by the relations and friends of the newly married or of the deceased. In the liturgy of the English church allusion is made to the practice of oblations, and some of the recent controversies have turned upon the revival of the "offertory," which has found some advocates.