BLESSING OF THE MENSA. - It is a prayer added to the Breviary that is used in religious houses before and after lunch and dinner. It begins with the greeting of the superior: "Benedicite!" to which the community responds: "Benedicite!"; there follows the Gloria, the verse "Oculi omnium" (Ps. 144, 15) at lunch, "Edent pauperes" (ibid. 21, 27) at dinner, sometimes, on certain principal feasts, changed; then the Kyrie, Pater noster, and a brief prayer that concludes with the blessing of the food. To give thanks, the verse "Confiteantur" (Ps. 144, 10) is recited with the Gloria after lunch, "Memoriam" (ibid. 110, 4. 5a) after dinner; after a brief prayer of thanksgiving follows the psalm "Miserere" (50) or "Laudate" (116), then the Kyrie, Pater noster, the versicles from the litany "Dispersit" (Ps. 11, 9).

MENSA, BLESSING of the - Page containing the Incipit of the Ordo ad benedicendam mensam per totum annum - Vatican Library, cod. Urb. Lat. 111, f. 531' (15th cent.).(phot. Vatican Library)

especially "Benedicam" cited from the ancient Communion Psalm (33, 1-3), and "Sit nomen" (Ps. 112, 2); it closes with prayers for benefactors and for the deceased and with the Pater noster.

Following the example of the Lord (Mt. 14, 19), and of the Apostles (Act. 27, 35; I Tim. 4, 3-5), the "benedictine" - as the prayer before the meal was called according to its opening word - as a very ancient and general Christian usage is mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (Paedag., II, 4) and Tertullian (De cor. militis, 3; Apol., 39, 16, 19; De orat., 25). The most ancient texts are the thanksgiving prayers of the Didache (ch. 9, 10) in relation to the Jewish prayers of Saturday evening, but their content is Christian. Prayers used by the virgins in convents are found in Pseudo-Athanasius, De virginitate, 12-14 (PG 28, 265, 268), Const. Ap., VII, 49; St. J. Chrysostom also alludes to them in the Hom. 55 in Mt. (PG 58, 545). For the Latin rite, the most ancient form of the "Benedictine" is contained in cod. S. Gall. 349, f. 104 ff. (ed. Silva-Tarouca, pp. 213-14); already there occur the formulas of today, "Oculi" of lunch and "Edent pauperes" of dinner. At each dish or food, the superior pronounces a blessing; before this, at the superior's signal, the reader interrupts the reading and all say "Deo gratias". To his blessing all respond "Amen", the reader continues. Formulas of this prayer and of the blessings are found in the Sacramentaries (Gelasian, Gregorian, in the Sacramentarium Fuldense, 10th cent., 2812, 2828 and Gallican, e.g., Bobbio, ed. Lowe 1920, nos. 561-62). The Consuetudines monasticae of Cluny (PL 149, 711-12) and of Hirau (PL 150, 995-96) contain the formulas used today.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: E. v. d. Goltz, Das Gebet in der ältesten Christenheit, Leipzig 1901, p. 260; P. Schepens, Le début du Benedictin, in Recherches des sciences religieuses, 10 (1920), pp. 368-71; L. Gousaud, Notes sur les prières chrétiennes de la table, in Rassegna gregoriana, 8 (1909), pp. 523-27; C. Silva-Tarouca, Giovanni "Archicantor" di S. Pietro a Roma e l'"Ordo Romanus" da lui composto (anno 680), in Atti della P. Acc. Rom. di arch. Memorie

I, 1, Rome 1923, p. 213; J. Baudot, Bénédiction de la table ou des aliments, in DACL, II, 1, coll. 713-16.

Pietro Siffran

@incollection{ec8_mensa_benedizione_della, author = {Siffrin, Pietro}, title = {Mensa, benedizione della}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {690--692}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/mensa-benedizione-della} }

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Blessing of the Mensa

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