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[German Version] In Western liturgies, the preface (Lat. praefatio; in non-Roman liturgies also contestatio, illatio, immolatio) is the anamnestic thanksgiving at the beginning of the eucharistic prayer (see also Anaphora) between the dialogue of the Sursum corda and the Sanctus. Though an essential element, the preface – unlike in the Eastern liturgies and the fourth eucharistic prayer of the Missale Romanum – is not associated with a particular eucharistic prayer. It varies with the day, the festival celebrated, or the season of the church year ( Allgemeine Einführung in das Me…

[German Version] a Catholic devotion that reenacts Jesus’ passion i…

[German Version] Octava dies, from the Latin (dies) octava, the eighth day, denotes the liturgical celebration eight days after a festival, and also the period up to the day of the octave. Sources from t…

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[German Version] A statio (“station”) was originally a gathering or gathering place; it then came to be associated particularly with fasts and the liturgy of the word. In 4th-century Rome, it finally came to denote the eucharistic celebration by the bishop and the local church in stational churches, first newly designated and then permanently assigned in the 7th century; until 1970 they were still listed in the Roman Missal for 89 days. A unique feature (until the early 14th cent.) was a procession from a nearby church ( collecta). This form of urban liturgy, attested for other cit…

[German Version] Although properties of cleansing (Purification) and atoning (Expiation) were ascribed to water in Judaism and in the ancient world, it was only in the 6th century that there is documented evidence for water being blessed in the West (there with salt added). In the 8th century, the practice of aspersion with holy water at the start of the Sunday mass began in Merovingian and Carolingian monasteries. This practice found its way into parish church services in the 9th century, where i…

[German Version] (Lairitz; Jan 30, 1808, Nemmersdorf – Mar 18, 1859, Unterschwaningen), Lutheran theologian and hymnologist. After studying theology and philosophy in Leipzig (Dr.phil. 1829) and Erlangen, where he was tutor at the faculty theology from 1833 to 1837, Layritz served as a parish priest in Merkendorf-Hirschlach, Bayreuth (St. Georgen), and Unterschwaningen. In a programmatic “Open Missive” and the edition of compilations of church hymns, Layritz spoke out for a revival of church music…

[German Version] I. In the Liturgy The paten (Lat. patena, from Gk πατάνη/ patánē, “flat dish”) serves as a container for the consecrated bread of the Eucharist; it is a functional parallel to the chalice holding the wine (Liturgical vessels, Liturgical implement…

[German Version] Originally a catechumenal rite (first mentioned in Aug. Conf. I 11.17) and limited almost exclusively to Roman liturgical practice, the giving of blessed salt was moved to the baptismal liturgy (Baptism: VI) with the shift to infant baptism; it remained there until Vatican II. The ceremony has been interpreted as an exorcism originating in Roman lustration rites for newborn infants (F.J. Dölger) and as a substitute for communion for catechumens (Alois Stenzel). No longer part of the baptismal liturgy, today the giving of salt is optionally associated with reception into the catechumenate. According to ancient practice, salt was also added to the water used for aspersion (attested in Rome since the 6th cent., optional today). What served originally for preservation…

[German Version] The pronouncing of a berakah (Blessing and Curse, Benedictions), according to Jewish custom, before and after eating is attested to in the case of both Jesus' meals (Matt 14:19; Luke 24:30) and those of the Early Church (1 Tim 4:3–5; cf. Acts 27:35). The prayers in Did. 9f. demonstrate, in form and content, a close affinity with the Jew…

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[German Version] The Nativity of John the Baptist is celebrated by the Catholic, Anglican, Byzantine, and Coptic churches on Jun 24 (it is also in the Lutheran Calendar of Saints), the Beheading on Aug 29; the earliest evidence of both observances dates from the 5th century. The date of the nativity observance was determined in the West in relationship to Christmas and Luke 1:36; later the feast incorporated customs associat…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. The Christian Cult and the Mysteries – III. Art History I. Religious Studies Modern discussion of the Greek mysteries goes back to the material collected by the Dutch scholar Jan de Meurs (1619), which served as the main source for I. Casaubon's argument that the Early Church borrowed but changed some terminology and institutions from the mysteries ( Exercitationes, 1655). The belief that there was a specific religious phenomenon, “the mystery cults of antiquity,” that could be compared directly with the practice…

[German Version] with one or both knees differs from kneeling, from falling to one's knees, but also from the related bowing and the intensive form, prostration, or major and minor metanie (Byz.). The prayer gestures genuflection and kneeling embody the humility of the creature in the act of worship, veneration and supplica-¶ tion. As liturgical gestures (II; R. Guardini, Von heiligen Zeichen, 1923; ET: Sacred Signs, 1956) in Western liturgies, they express appropriate contrition and supplication and constitute an attitude of receptiveness (ordination, marriage, confirmation, blessing, etc.). While, in the modern era, kneeling has become the dominant posture on the part of Catholics, the liturgical movement and Vatican II have reintroduced standing, which was dominant in the Early Church, as the basic liturgica…

[German Version] (Feb 17, 1885, Verona, Italy – Oct 1, 1968, Munich), Catholic philosopher of religion and theologian. With his conception of a Christian worldview, Guardini developed a universally acknowledged contribution to the interpretation and significance of Christianity under the intellectual conditions of the 20th ce…