Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/138

 COLLECTAEIUM

104

COLLECTIONS

within an octave and throughout the octaves of Eas- ter and Whitsunday there are only two (Ruhr. Gen., IX ; De Herdt, I, 75, where the rules for these collects will be found). But in these cases the number may be greater, if there arc commemorations. On sim- ples, ferias, and in Requiems and (not solemn) votive Masses, the celebrant may also add collects, as he chooses, provided the total number be an uneven one and do not exceed seven (Ruhr. Gen., IX, 12; De Herdt, I, 83).

The rule about the uneven numbers, on which the S. Congr. Rit. has insisted several times (2 December, 1684; 2 September, 1741; 30 June, 1896), is a curious one. The limit of seven prevents the Mass from being too long. In any case the collect of the day always comes first. It has Oremus before it and the long conclusion (Per Dominum, etc.). The second collect has a second Oremus, and all that follow are joined togetlier without intermediate ending nor Oremus till the last, which again has the long conclusion. This separates the collect of the day from the others and gives it a special dignit}', as a remnant of the old prin- ciple that it alone should be said. The conclusions of the collects vary according to their form and refer- ences (Ruhr. Gen., IX, 17). The people (choir or server) answer Amen. During the conclusions the celebrant folds his hands and bows towards the cross at the words Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. It shoultl be noted that the great majority of the collects are addressed to God the Father (so all the old ones; the common form is to begin : Deus, qui) ; a few later ones (as on Corpus Christi, for example) are addressed to God the Son, none to the Holy Ghost. At low Mass collects are said aloud so that they can be heard by the people, at high (or sung) Mass they are sung to the festive tone on doubles, semi-doubles, and Sun- days. On simples, ferias, and in Masses for the dead, they have the simple ferial tone (entirely on one note, fa). The rules of the tones, with examples, are in the " Cteremoniale Episcoporum ", I, xxvii. At high Mass the deacon and subdeacon stand in a straight line behind the celebrant (the deacon on the top step, the subdeacon in piano) with joined hands. At the col- ■ects, in high Mass, the people should stand. This is the old position for public prayer; originally the sub- deacon explicitly told them to do so (Levate). The ciLstom of standing during the collects, long neglected, is now being happily revived. At low Mass they kneel all the time except durine the Gospel (Ruhr. Gen., XVII, 2).

Rubricae generates Mvssalis, VII, IX. XVI. XVII; Rilus cete- brandi, \; Cceremoniate Episcoporum, I, xxvii; Benkdict XIV, De SS. MissfE Sacrificio. II, v; Gihr. Das hi'itige Messopfer (Freiburg im Br.. 1S97), II, § 39. 374-399. See also the sacra- nientaries. texts, and commentaries quoted in the article Cvnon OF THE Mass.

ADRI.iN FORTESCUE.

Collectaxium (sometimes Collect.\rius, Collec- T.^NEUM, Oration.^le, Capitul.^re), the book which contains the Collects. In the Proprium de Tempore of the Roman Missal the title Staiio, with the name of some saint or mystery, is frequently prefixed to the Introit of the Mass. It signifies that in early times, probably down to the fourteenth century, the clergy and people celebrated on those days the Divine mysteries in the churches dedicated in honour of that saint or mystery. Before going in procession to the statio they assembled in some nearby church to re- ceive tlie pontiff, who recited a pniyer which was called the Collect. This name was given to the prayer either because it -mas recited for the assembled people, or because it rontained the sum and substance of all favours asked by the pontiff for himself and the peojile. (ir because in an :thriilge(l form it represented the spirit atid fruit of the feast or mystery. In course of time it was used to .signify the prayers, proper, votive, or prescribed by the ecclesiastical superiors (.imperatw), recited before the Epistle, as well as the

Secrets and the Post-Communions. Later it was ap- plied to the prayers said at Divine Office or any litur- gical service.

Zacc.vria, Biblioltieca Ritualis fRome. 1776), I; Bernard, CouTs de Liturgie Romaine: La Messe (I'aris, 1S98), II: V\n DER Stappen, Sacra Liturgia (Mechlin, 1902), II; Carpo. Compendiosa Bibliottieca Liturgica (Bologna, 1879); Gihr The Holy Sacrifice of ttte Mass, tr. (St. Louis, Missouri. 1903). A. J. SCHULTE.

Collections. — The offerings of the faithful in their special relation to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will claim fuller and more general treatment imder Offer- tory and Mass Stipend. We will confine ourselves here to the particular development which took the form of a contribution in money, corresponding par- ticularly to what is conveyed by the French word qui'te. Of collections for general church purposes we find mention already in the days of St. Paul, for we read in I Cor., xvi, 1-2: "Now concerning the collec- tions that are made for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, so do ye also. On the first day of the week let every one of you put apart with himself, laying up what it shall well please him ; that when I come, the collections be not then to be made." Tliis seems to imply that on every Sunday (the first day of the week ) contributions were made, probably when the faithful assembled for " the break- ing of bread" (Acts, xx, 7), and that then contribu- tions were put by, if not required for some immediate and local need, e. g. the relief of the poor, in order that St. Paul might assign them for the use of other more destitute churches at a distance (cf. II Cor., viii and ix). How far such offerings were allocated to the sup- port of the clergy and how far to the poor there is nothing to tell us, but it is plain that as a matter of principle the claims both of the clergy and of the poor were recognized from the very first. (For the clergy see I Cor., ix, 8-11 ; II Thess., iii, 8; I Tim., v, 17-18; and for the poor see Acts, iv, 34-35, vi, 1, xi, 29-30; I Tim., V, 16, etc.) Again there can be no doubt that from an early date such alms were administered ac- cording to some organized sj'stem. The very institu- tion of deacons and deaconesses proves this, and we can appeal to the existence in certain places, for ex- ample at Jerusalem, of a roll {breve ecclesiasticum, see the recently recovered "Life of St. Melania", § 35) bearing the names of those in receipt of relief. Greg- orj' of Tours gives the name of matricularii (De Mirac. B. Martin., iii, 22) to those who wgie entered on this roll. Speaking generally, the allocation of all offer- ings was recognized as belonging to the bishop (i. e. in the period before the modern system of parishes and parish priests had evolved itself with any clearness), and the rule was formally enunciated in the West that all offerings were to be divided by the bishop into four parts: the first for the clergy, the second for the poor, the third for the fabric and up-keep of the churches, and the last part for the bishop himself, that he might the better exercise the hospitality which was ex- pected of him. Tills arrangement seems to date back at least to the time of Pope Simplicius (475), and a hundred years later it is stated by Pope Gregory the Great in the following form when he was consulted by St. .\ugustine about the English Church which he had just founded: "It is the custom of the Apostolic See to deliver to ordained bishops precepts that of everj' oblation which is made there ought to be four portions, one, to wit, for the btshop and his household, on ac- count of hospitality and entertainment, another for the clergy, a third for the poor, a fourth for the repair- ing of churches" (Bede, Hist. Eccles., I, xx\-ii).

.\t a later date we find some modification of this rule, for in the Capitularies of Louis the Pious a third of the offerings are assigned to the clergy and two- thirds to the poor in more prosperous districts, while a half is to be given to each in poorer ones. During all this earlier period offerings in money do not seem to