OBLAZIONI. – A generic liturgical and juridical designation, used ab antiquo to indicate the spontaneous offerings made by the faithful in church and outside the church, particularly in connection with the celebration of Mass, on the occasion of the administration of the Sacraments and of other sacred functions and services, as an act of worship and devotion or also for a pious cause.
I. GENERAL CONCEPT. - The primary and direct purpose of an offering is homage to God; its secondary and integral purpose is the maintenance of worship and the support of the ministers assigned to II.
Offerings, as an act of worship toward the Divinity, constitute a very ancient institution found among all religions, and one that underwent particular development among the people of Israel. Especially in the Leviticus, there is the most precise and complete legislative regulation concerning offerings: at certain times of the year, the Israelites were required to offer in the Temple part of the produce of their fields and of their animals; specific offerings were also prescribed for the obtaining of favors, thanksgiving, the expiation of sins, purification from legal impurities, the healing of illnesses, especially leprosy, etc. The firstborn, too, were to be the object of offerings to the Temple, and were subsequently redeemed with another kind of offering (Lev. 12, 2-8).
Christianity, which in the new sacrifice instituted by Jesus Christ reflects the symbolism of the sacrifice of Melchizedek, inherited and interpreted from the Jewish system the fundamental concept of offerings, principally in relation to the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
II. THE « OBLATIONES COMMUNES ». - The use of these goes back to the practice of the Church in the time of the Apostles. The faithful used to offer at the altar the bread and wine that were to serve for the Holy Sacrifice, thereby considering themselves, together with the priest, its offerers. The offerings that proved superfluous for the sacrifice were regarded as transferred for the support of the celebrant and the ministers, in evident imitation of the sacrifices of the ancient law.
The initial establishment of such a system seems to be connected with the Christian agape of apostolic times. Each member of the faithful made his offering: what was left over from the celebration of the rite became the occasion of a fraternal meal among those present; the remainder was distributed to the poor. When, later, the agape became separated from the rite of the Mass properly so called, the use of offerings remained joined to the latter, becoming one of its liturgical requirements.
The ritual use of offerings is already encountered in the customs of the earliest Christian communities. S. Paul seems to assume it when he reproaches the faithful of Corinth for certain abuses that occurred in that community on the occasion of the agape (2 Cor. 11, 20-34). The Apostolic Canons give the impression of regulating an already ancient practice when they establish the prohibition of receiving at the altar any offerings other than the ritual offerings of bread and wine; the only exceptions are new grain and grapes at harvest time, and the offering of oil for the lampstand or of incense for the rite of the offering is tolerated (cann. 3-4). Other goods may not lawfully constitute offerings at the altar, but must be sent to the bishop’s house and distributed by him to the clergy. The Apostolic Constitutions reaffirm for bishops the obligation of the subsequent distribution to the clergy of the eulogiet of the offerings, that is, quae in mysticii oblationibus superum. (VIII, 31: ed. F. X. Funk, Paderborn 1905, p. 533). Can. 24 of the Third Council of Carthage (a. 397) prohibits offering at the altar quam quod ipse Dominus tradidit, that is, bread and wine, or grapes and grain; it permits only the offering of honey and milk at the feast of Easter.
Making an offering was a specific right, denied to those who were not in full communion with the Church, to catechumens, excommunicated persons, and penitents not yet reconciled: a right to which great importance was attached also because only those who offered were regarded as sharing in the fruit of the sacrifice. For the rite, V. OFFERTORY.
III. THE « OBLATIONES PECULIARES ». - Their use, too, is very ancient. They arose and became established alongside the common offerings when the authorities excluded from offerings ad altare those gifts incompatible with the matter of the sacrifice. At first such offerings were made foris septam altaris, although within the church; later, ad donum Episcopi. Thus, they were no longer collective offerings for common participation in the Eucharistic sacrifice, but individual offerings motivated by the devotion of particular persons.
The Apostolic Canons already cited and can. 24 of the Third Council of Carthage document the very ancient custom of offering goods other than the matter intended for the sacrifice. The practice of offering money as an offering in church and also at the altar is likewise very ancient; examples from the 4th century are cited. The existence in churches of a box for offerings of money, called arca, corba, or also gazophilacium, is attested by S. Justin, Tertullian, S. Paulinus of Nola, S. Augustine, and others. Already in the most ancient Ethiopian liturgy, particular offerings are distinguished from common ones because they were made before the Offertory, whereas the common offerings took place during its chant. In the Capitularies of Charlemagne the distinction is even clearer; in the Carolingian period, in fact, it was tolerated that particular offerings should again be made in church, but it was established that the offering be made before Mass or at least before the reading of the Gospel. Anything could be the object of a particular offering, provided that it consisted de propria et licitis rebus (c. 3 X 5, 40). S. Paulinus, speaking of what was offered at Nola at the tomb of S. Felix the Martyr, attests that carpets, manufactured goods, objects of gold and silver, lamps, perfumes, and other things were offered; S. Augustine speaks of the offering of cloths, garments, linens, and other items of clothing. In this way the term offering acquired a very broad meaning, eventually including anything offered to the church or to the priest, under any title, for purposes of worship and devotion and also for a pious cause; even a building, a piece of land, a rent, a pension, an emphyteutic canon, a tithe, a foundation, and so forth.
Originally, particular offerings, like common ones, were intended for the bishop and the clergy. Very soon, however, their division into four portions is found: one for the benefit of the bishop, another for the clergy, the third for the poor, and the fourth credited to the church (c. 23, C. XII, 9,2). Later, bishops and councils regulated their distribution differently.
IV. OBLATIONS AS A LEGAL INSTITUTION. — Originally, the o. were spontaneous and voluntary offerings. But as early as the fifth century, a tendency can be observed to regard them as obligatory, as a gradual decline in the o. became increasingly pronounced with the waning of the piety and fervor of the faithful. Bishops and councils, concerned with the grave problem of providing for the support of the clergy, which until then had rested exclusively on the system of spontaneous o., began to speak of a true obligation and right, whose proximate basis was, on the one hand, the due homage owed to God and, on the other, the duty to contribute to the maintenance of worship and of the ministers appointed to II.
Canon 4 of the Council of Mâcon in 585 established the obligatory o. of bread and wine every Sunday, under penalty of excommunication (ed. Fr. Maassen, MGH, Concilia, I [1893], p. 166). The Councils and capitularies of the Carolingian age frequently deal with the o. (cf. s. V. Oblatio in the indexes of the Concilia and the
Capitularia, in MGH). In the Decretum, Graziano collected highly indicative documentation concerning the obligatory nature of the o. It suffices to recall the canon Omnis christianus (c. 69 D. 1 de Consecr.), which reproduces canon 13 of the Roman Synod of 1078 under Gregorio VII, and the canon Statuimus (can. 55 C. 16, q. 1), which, referring back to a provision of Anastasio III (d. in 913), imposes a monetary composition and excommunication upon those who resist. These canons, together with the chapters Cum secundum (c. 16 X, 3, 5) and Ad apostolicam (c. 42 X, 5, 3), were the principal texts on which the decretists and decretalists based their doctrine concerning the obligatory nature of the o. As the chief basis of such an obligation, in addition to the duty to support the sacred minister, they particularly invoked the laudabilis consuetudo (c. 42 X, 5, 3).