Oratory

Charles Buck Theological Dictionary

A name given by Christians to certain places of religious worship. In ecclesiastical antiquity, the term houses of prayer, or oratories, is frequently given to churches in general, of which there are innumerable instances in ancient Christian writers. But in some canons the name oratory seems confined to private chapels or places of worship set up for the convenience of private families, yet still depending on the parochial churches, and differing from them in this, that they were only places of prayer, but not for celebrating the communion; for if that were at any time allowed to private families, yet, at least, upon the great and solemn festivals, they were to resort for communion to the parish churches. Oratory is used among the Romanists for a closet, or little apartment near a bed-chamber, furnished with a little altar, crucifix, &c. for private devotion. Oratory, Priests of the. There were two congregations of religious, one in Italy, the other in France, which were called by his name. The Priests of the Oratory in Italy had for their founder, St. Phillip de Neri, a native of Florence, who, in the year 1548, founded at Rome the Confraternity of the Holy Trinity. This Society originally consisted of but fifteen poor persons, who assembled in the church of St. Saviour, in campo, every first Sunday in the month, to practise the exercises of piety described by the holy founder.

Afterwards their number increasing by the addition of several persons of distinction of the society, St. Philip proceeded to establish a hospital for the reception of poor pilgrims, who, coming to Rome to visit the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, were obliged, for want of a lodging, to lie in the streets, and at the doors of churches. For this charitable purpose, pope Paul IV. gave to the society the parochial church of St. Benedict, close by which was built a hospital, so large, that in the Jubilee year 1600, it received 444, 500 men, and 25, 500 women, who came in pilgrimage to Rome. The Priest of the Oratory in France were established on the model of those in Italy, and owe their rise to cardinal Berulle, a native of Champagne, who resolved upon this foundation in order to revive the splendour of the ecclesiastical state, which was greatly sunk through the miseries of the civil wars, the increase of heresies, and a general corruption of manners. To this end he assembled a community of ecclesiastics, in 1611, in the suburb of St. James. They obtained the king's letter patent for their establishment; and, in 1613, pope Paul V. approved this congregation, under the title of the Oratory of Jesus. This congregation consisted of two sorts of persons; the one, as it were, incorporated; the other only associates: the former governed the houses of this institute; the latter were only employed in forming themselves to the life and manners of ecclesiastics. And this was the true spirit of this congregation, in which they taught neither human learning nor theology, but only the virtues of the ecclesiastical life.

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) The art of an orator; the art of public speaking in an eloquent or effective manner; the exercise of rhetorical skill in oral discourse; eloquence.

(2): ( n.) A place of orisons, or prayer; especially, a chapel or small room set apart for private devotions.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

is the Latin name which was anciently given to places of public worship in general, as being houses of prayer, (See Proseucha); but in later times, in contradistinction from Ecclesia, has been applied to smaller or domestic chapels. Oratory is used among the Romanists to denote a closet or little apartment near a bedchamber, furnished with a little altar, crucifix, and other furniture, suited, in their view, to a place for private devotion. It is more correctly applied to such a place of worship as Luke refers to in Acts 13 — an upper chamber, in which the early Christians worshipped for safety, to preserve their secret discipline from the knowledge of the heathen, and in distinction from the pagan exhibition of graven images on the ground-floor of buildings, and also in memory of the place of the Last Supper. The rise of private places of worship, called Εὐκτηρια , outlasted the times of persecution, and were permitted, under certain restrictions, by the councils of Saragossa (A.D.). 381) and Gangra. The name Oratory is also applied to a chapel in which no mass may be said without permission of the ordinary. There are several kinds: 1, a monk's cell; 2, a private chapel, recognised by the Council of Ayde (506); 3, a chapel in the country without a district; 4, the private portion of a minster reserved for the use of the convent; the choir; a chapel attached to the chapter-house; 5, in the 6th or 7th century a burial chapel, or a chapel in a cemetery, in which mass was said at times, when the bishop sent a priest to celebrate; 6, a chantry chapel in a church. In 1027 Alexis, patriarch of Constantinople, condemned the abuse of oratories, in which persons of power had assumed to have baptism administered and to assemble congregations under a license. The private chapel of the dukes of Burgundy was rebuilt as the cathedral of Autun; the chateau of the Bourbons became that of Moulins. The ancient Cornish oratories are simple parallelograms, and contain a stone altar and well; they are sometimes raised on artificial mounds. In the Middle Ages oratories became a common appendage to the castles and residences of the nobility, and were of two kinds: the first simply for private and family prayer and other devotions; the second for celebration of mass. The latter fell properly under the jurisdiction of the bishop or the parochial clergy, and many jealousies and disputes grew out of their establishment or direction. The Council of Trent (sess. 22, Di Reformatione) placed them under very stringent regulations, which have been enforced and developed by later popes, especially by Benedict XIV. See Walcott, Sacred Archaeology, s.v.; Riddle, Christian Antiquities,, 703, 721. (See Chapel).