Dictionary

offertory en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɒfət(ə)ɹi/ (UK)
• /ˈɑfəɹˌtɔɹi/ (US)

Etymology

From Late Latin offertorium, from the participle stem of offere (“to offer”).

Meanings

1. A prayer said or sung as an anthem while offerings of bread and wine are placed on the altar during the Roman Catholic Mass or the Anglican Communion service.
   • There was an impressive musical program, conducted by Sheldon Smeeth, educational director of the Y.M.C.A., who also sang the offertory. 1922, Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Company, →OCLC:
2. 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.
   • I sat through the sermon, and the offertory, and the recessional. 1922, Upton Sinclair, They Call Me Carpenter:
   • 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. 1914, Stephen Leacock, Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich:
   • 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. 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 30:
3. (historical) A linen or silken cloth anciently used in various ceremonies connected with the administration of the Eucharist.

Forms

Relateds

oblate · oblation · offer · offering

Translations (17)

de Kollekte (money offered or donated during a church service) · nl collecte (the part of a church service when offerings are collected) · nl offertorium (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to God during a church service) · de Offertorium (music sung or played during the offertory of a church service) · it offertorio (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to God during a church service) · pl ofiarowanie (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to God during a church service) · it offertorio (music sung or played during the offertory of a church service) · mi ohaoha (money offered or donated during a church service) · pl ofertorium (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to God during a church service) · pt ofertório (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to God during a church service) · bg дарение (money offered or donated during a church service) · fi kolehti (money offered or donated during a church service) · mi ohaoha (the part of a church service when offerings are collected) · pl offertorium (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to God during a church service) · de Gabenbereitung (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to God during a church service) · nl collecte (money offered or donated during a church service) · es ofertorio (the offering of sacremental bread and wine to God during a church service)