oratory

Congregation of the Oratory [Lat. abbr., Cong. Orat. ], in the Roman Catholic Church, founded in 1575, an association of secular priests organized into independent communities according to the rule written by St. Philip Neri . The purpose of the oratory is to raise local religious standards. To do this they employ three means—prayer, especially the solemn performance of the liturgy; the sacraments, especially the confessional; and preaching, every oratory having daily sermons. Confessions are heard at all times. The best-known oratory of the English-speaking world is probably that of John Henry Newman, who introduced it to England as a means of extending the church there. There are Congregations of the Oratory in the United States at Rock Hill, South Carolina, and Yarnell, Arizona.

oratory. The term, used in antiquity of both churches and private chapels, has come to be restricted to places of worship other than the parish church. RC canon law distinguishes both oratories and private chapels from churches, to which all the faithful have access for divine worship. In general, all sacred celebrations can be carried out in an oratory, whereas permission is required for them in a private chapel.

‘The Oratory’ is used absolutely for the Oratorians (q.v.) or ‘Congregation of the Oratory’ and for churches belonging to it, e.g. Brompton Oratory in London.

Oratory in the Roman Catholic Church, a religious society of secular priests founded in Rome in 1564 to provide plain preaching and popular services and established in various countries.

The Oratory of St Philip Neri was constituted at Rome in 1564 and recognized by the Pope in 1575. It was so named from the small chapel or oratory built over one of the aisles of the Church of St. Jerome, in which St Philip Neri (1515–95) and his followers, ‘Fathers of the Oratory’, carried on their work for six years before 1564. In 1577 the congregation moved to the new church (Chiesa Nuova) of the Valicella, in which were conducted the musical services thence called, in Italian, oratorio.

Oratory meaning ‘a small chapel, especially for private worship’, is recorded from Middle English, and comes ultimately from Latin orare ‘pray, speak’.