Prayer

PRAYER. - Language of praise, or invocation, or petition, addressed by man to God.

I. NATURE AND DEFINITION

Prayer is the most spontaneous and elementary manifestation of the relations between man and God; it constitutes, as A. Sabatier observes, "the very soul of religion." It is realized in the most diverse forms, from the monosyllable to meditation, from the religious hymn to silent contemplation, from the liturgical formula to the spontaneous conversation of the heart with God. There is no religion, however primitive, in which prayer does not occur.

Some Fathers attempted to give a definition of prayer. St. Jerome (Ep. 140, ad Cyprianum: PL 22, 1168): "Oratio... ad preces et obsecrationes pertinet." St. Gregory of Nyssa (De oratione Domini: PG 44, 1124): "Oratio conversatio et sermocinatio cum Deo est, malorum subversio, peccatorum emendatio." St. John Damascene: "Ascensus mentis in Deum," "petitio decentium a Deo" (De fide orth., III, 24: PG 94, 1089), the first of which insists on the effort that the soul makes to detach itself from creatures and raise itself to God, while the other highlights its character as a petition. St. Augustine: "oratio tua locutio est ad Deum" (Enarr. in Ps. 85: PL 37, 1086), and elsewhere "Mentis ad Deum affectuosa intentio" and (Sermo 61: PL 38, 411): "oratio petitio quaedam est." St. Gregory the Great (Moralia, 33, 23: PL 76, 701): "Veraciter orare est amaros in compunctione gemitus et non composita verba resonare."

J. de Guibert and A. Fonck hold that of the three patristic definitions — petition made to God, conversation with God, elevation of the soul to God (pseudo-Augustine, St. John Damascene) — that of conversation with God (St. Gregory of Nyssa; St. John Chrysostom cited by St. Thomas, Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃᵉ, q. 83, a. 2 ad 3ᵘᵐ) is the one most faithful to the reality of the nature of prayer.

St. Thomas gives various definitions. In IV Sent., dist. XV, q. IV, a. 1, sol. 1: "Oratio rationis est actus applicantis desiderium voluntatis ad eum, qui non est sub potestate nostra, sed supra nos, scilicet Deus." In Sum. Theol., 3ᵃ, q. 21, a. 1: "Oratio est quaedam explicatio proprie voluntatis apud Deum ut eam impleat"; in the 2ᵃ-2ᵃᵉ, q. 83 he treats prayer extensively, making it depend on the virtue of religion, whence "oratio proprie est religionis actus"; it is an act of practical reason: "petitio quaedam est" or also "ascensus mentis in Deum."

On the whole, prayer can be defined with the Catechism of Pius X: "Pious elevation of the soul to God in order to know him, adore him, thank him and ask of him what we need."

Particularly contested has been petitionary prayer as useless, with objections drawn from God's foreknowledge and omnipotence, which Origen already (De oratione, 5-8: PG 11, 429-42) refuted at length. Following in part the deists of the 18th century, who excluded all communication with God, modern philosophers likewise reject petitionary prayer, deemed by E. Kant unworthy because it is self-interested.

Placed on the Index (18 March 1942), for a related conception, was the book by the Catholic O. Karrer, Gebet, Vorsehung, Wunder (AAS, 34 [1942], p. 100).

The Quietists fought against petitionary prayer "because asking is an imperfection, being an act of one's own will and choice, and it is a willing that the divine will conform to ours and not ours to that of God" (proposition 14 of Molinos, condemned by Innocent XI, 20 Nov. 1687, as "temerarious, scandalous, impious..."). On 4 Sept. 1687 a similar proposition (the 36th) of the brothers Leoni was condemned by the Holy Office (J. de Guibert, Documenta ecclesiastica christianae perfectionis studium spectantia, Rome 1931, pp. 272 ff., 291).

II. PSYCHOLOGY

F. Suárez (v. bibl.) poses the question: "Utrum oratio sit actus intellectus vel voluntatis?". In the Middle Ages two schools divided the field. The voluntarists, with Hugh of St. Victor (De modo orandi, ch. 1) and St. Bonaventure (In III Sent., q. 17, a. 1, q. 1 ad 3), considered prayer as an affective movement of the will. The intellectualists, with St. Thomas (Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃᵉ, q. 83, a. 1, sed contra), see in prayer an act of practical reason which "est non solum apprehensiva, sed etiam causativa... sicut indicens et quodammodo disponens, et hoc modo ratio petit aliquid fieri ab his, qui ei non subjiciuntur, sive sint aequales, sive superiores".

Required by the virtue of religion and falling within the duties of justice toward God are the interior acts of the two spiritual faculties: prayer, an act of the intellect, and devotio, an act of the will. After devotion, prayer holds the principal place among the acts of religion, because through it religion moves man's intellect toward God (ibid., a. 3, ad 1ᵘᵐ).

After St. Thomas the meaning of prayer gradually shifts, and by prayer is understood no longer only the prayer of petition, but also meditation (v.), affective oration (v.) and mystical contemplation (v.). Such an amplification of meaning is already present in Scala claustralium sive tractatus de modo orandi, ca. 1145 (PL 184, 475-96). This occurs in a particular way in the 16th-17th centuries, in which meditation is inserted into the concept of oration, under the name of mental oration. Through this broadening of the concept of oration, the volitional element comes to stand alongside the intellectual element, so that the "mismatch between the Thomist theory of prayer and the later one is not merely a question of name; there is also a difference of approach. But this does not mean a contrast of doctrinal substance" (M. Campo, Natura dell'orazione, in La p., Milan 1947, p. 22).

III. FORMS AND DEGREES

Prayer is adoration when it is addressed to God as supreme lord and governor of the world, which entails "the recognition in God of his most high sovereignty and in us of the deepest dependence" (J.-B. Bossuet, Sermon on the Worship of God). It is furthermore thanksgiving for benefits received. It is a request for divine help, and it is a request for forgiveness for sins committed. Beyond these four classic forms of prayer, there is the prayer that is love, attraction, complacency that moves one to unite oneself to God (N. Crou, L'école de Jésus-Christ, II, Paris 1923, p. 29: "l'amour doit être l'objet final ou même le sujet de sa prière"), and the prayer of abandonment to the divine will, which reaches its most perfect exemplar in that of Jesus on the Cross (Lk 23:46; cf. Jb 13:15; 1 Kings 3:18). St. Paul

(I Tim. 2, 1) distinguishes 4 forms or modes of prayer: "oratio, postulatio, obsecratio, gratiarum actio."

Prayer can be vocal, if it is expressed with words or gestures; or mental, an internal conversation with God, which is not manifested outwardly (for this, v. ORAZIONE).

Vocal prayer always presupposes internal thought as its origin, according to the definition of Benedict XIV ("Oratio vocalis ea est quae voce exprimitur, ita tamen ut mens ori conjuncta sit"). The nobility of vocal prayer is emphasized in Hebr. 13:15 ("Per Ipsum ergo offeramus hostiam laudis semper Deo, idest fructum labiorum confitentium nomini ejus"). A. Fonck strives to show that mental prayer is not superior to vocal prayer (DThC, XIII, col. 187 ff.). The ejaculatory prayer (v.) is like a brief and fiery dart launched from the heart to God, and, as J. B. A. Landriot rightly notes (Instructions pastorales pour les saints temps de carême 1859-64, in Oeuvres, II, Paris 1866), it can take two forms: the aspiration or sigh directed to God from the depths of the soul without precise words, and brief formulated invocations. The best collection of ejaculatory prayers is that of Card. Bona (Opuscula ascetica selecta, edited by Lehmkuhl, Freiburg i. Br. 1911, pp. 281-378; cf. L. De Grandmaison, in Revue d'ascét. et de myst., 2 [1921], pp. 132-37).

The legitimacy of vocal prayer, denied by the illuminists and the quietists of every age, is proved by St. Thomas (In IV Sent., dist. XV, q. IV, a. 2; Contra Gent., III, c. 119; Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃp., q. 83, 12; q. 91, 1): we must offer to God not only the homage of the soul, but also that of the body, to stimulate our devotion, for the good example of our neighbor.

Vocal prayer can be private or public. Society too, as such, must pray; this holds for natural society but particularly for supernatural society, the Church. The prayer of the Church recited privately is also public, such as the Divine Office or Breviary (v.); cf. AAS, 18 (1926), p. 79; 35 (1943), pp. 241 and 245. The prayer of the Church is essentially liturgical prayer, that is, "it is the solemn prayer of Christ head of the Mystical Body together with his members who participate in the life of their Head" (E. Caronti).

IV. NECESSITY: MORAL OBLIGATION

Pelagius, at the beginning of the 5th century, denied the necessity of prayer; this was connected to the denial of the necessity of Grace: "he wants to treat of everything else except prayer" (St. Augustine, De natura et Gratia, 18); his first denial was later restricted, the Pelagians acknowledging that one can pray that sins already committed be forgiven, but not that the grace of not committing them further be obtained. St. Augustine fought this doctrine throughout the course of his life (Serm., 26, 2-3: PL 38, 171-72; De peccat. meritis et remissione, 1, 2, 2, n. 2: PL 44, 151; De perfect. iustitiae homin., 1 and 19: PL 44, 293 and 319).

The necessity of prayer can be considered as of means or as of precept. As regards necessity of means, Suárez distinguishes "necessitas simpliciter" and "necessitas ad melius esse," which strictly speaking is usefulness, "quae tamen tunc vocatur necessitas quando tanta est ut sine tali medio vix aut cum magna difficultate possit finis obtineri." Prayer is not necessary by necessity of means strictly so called because such intrinsic necessity belongs only to divine Grace (Suárez, op. cit., I, cap. 28, pp. 56-57). Absolutely speaking, there exist other means of obtaining Grace, for example, good works, and in particular almsgiving, having impetratory value. Can it be said to be necessary by necessity of means "ex divina lege et quasi ex pacto," writes Suárez (loc. cit., n. 2), as though God had issued a decree that man should not obtain the graces necessary for his salvation except through prayer? In general the theologians answer affirmatively. St. Alphonsus M. de' Liguori (Il gran mezzo della p. [v. bibl.], cap. 1), establishes that prayer is necessary for salvation by necessity of means, and adds "the Scriptures are only too clear which show us the necessity we have of praying if we wish to be saved"; he supports his assertion on Lc. 18, 1; Mt. 26, 41; Mt. 7, 7, on the fact that without Grace we cannot do any good (Io. 15, 5) and that God grants the help of Grace, by ordinary providence, only to one who prays, on the authority of the saints, particularly Augustine and Thomas, on the fact that "prayer is the weapon necessary to defend oneself from enemies, since... without prayer it is impossible to resist temptations and to practice the commandments." L. Lessius (De iustitia, I, 2, dub. 3, n. 9) holds that "it cannot be denied, without erring in the faith, that prayer is necessary for adults to be saved, since it is evident from the Scriptures that it is the only means of obtaining the helps necessary for salvation."

St. Augustine (De dono persec., 16, 39: PL 45, 1017) with the assertion "Cum constet alia Deum danda etiam non orantibus sicut initium fidei, alia non nisi orantibus praeparasse, sicut usque in finem perseverantiam" establishes the limits of such necessity of means in the order of the graces indispensable for salvation, which does not exclude that sometimes God may grant them even without any prayer. "quis enim hominum ostenditur orasse pro Petro, ut daret ei Deus perseverantiam, qua se negasse Dominum flevit?" (De correptione et Gratia, 5, 8: PL 44, 920). The necessity of means of prayer emerges from the necessity of Grace for observing the divine law (St. Augustine, Enarrat. in ps., 118, 27: PL 37, 1581; De Gratia et libero arbitrio, 14, 28 and 16, 32: PL 44, 898 and 900); the Augustinian principle is well known: "Vere novit recte vivere, qui recte novit orare" (Serm., 55 [in appendice], 1: PL 39, 1849). Since only through prayer does one have as much Grace as is required to observe the divine law (id., De Gratia et libero arbitrio, 14, 28: PL 44, 898): "Non igitur Deus impossibilia iubet sed iubendo admonet et facere quod possis et petere quod non possis" (id., De natura et Gratia, 69, 83: PL 44, 288 ff.); St. Augustine asserts the same necessity for overcoming temptations (Confess., II, 1-2 and VIII, 11: PL 32, 675 and 761; Serm., 20, 3: PL 38, 39), against concupiscence (Serm., 57, De oratione Dominica ad competentes, 9: PL 38, 391). Finally Grace is particularly necessary for obtaining final perseverance (De dono perseverantiam, 16, 2: PL 45, 1017).

The moral obligation of prayer is therefore obvious. Christ demonstrated to man that prayer is obligatory for him because it is necessary (Suárez, op. cit., I, cap. 28, n. 4). Beraza (Tract. de virtutibus infusis, Bilbao 1939, p. 724) specifies that this positive-natural divine precept, excluding liturgical prayer, is without determination of time, place and manner for private and individual prayer. The Messalians, the Euchites, the Acoemetae interpreted the Gospel word "oportet semper orare" as a necessity of praying constantly. Suárez (op. cit., I, ch. 30, n. 8), with St. Thomas (In IV Sent., dist. XV, q. 9, a. 1, q. 3), asserts: "praeceptum hoc... non afferre secum certam et claram temporis determinationem". He holds that prayer should be made "aliquoties in vita"; he adds: "credo tamen tam necessariam esse orationem ad rectitudinem vitae, ut non sit permittenda dilatio unius anni, nec fortasse unius mensis" (n. 16). John of St. Thomas (Cursus theol. in Summam D. Thomae, VII, q. 83, disp. 21, a. 3, n. 37), then A. Vermeersch, reject the efforts of some theologians to make the obligation of prayer at least weekly, which they qualify as a "negativum religionis praeceptum" on the basis of the tenor: "orare ne contemnas neve positive negligas". According to St. Alphonsus the precept of praying obliges at least in three cases: when one is in mortal sin, when one is in grave danger of sinning, when one is in grave danger of death (cf. Sum. Theol., 3a, q. 39, a. 5).

Theologians generally do not recognize a strict obligation to pray vocally in the Christian, since prayer can, as St. Thomas admits, be made "et voce et sine voce", according to what is fitting for the one praying (In IV Sent., dist. 15, q. 4, a. 2, sol. 1). As individual prayer, therefore, "ex vi iuris naturalis oratio vocalis non est sub praecepto" (Suárez, op. cit., I, III, ch. 6, nn. 3, 9-12). Nor does there exist an ecclesiastical precept obliging one to recite the Pater Noster or the Ave Maria, or any other vocal prayer, during assistance at Sunday Mass. Regarding Lk. 18:1 "oportet semper orare et non deficere" and 1 Thess. 5:17 "sine intermissione orare", St. Thomas observes: "tamdiu homo orat quamdiu totam vitam suam in Deum ordinat" (Comment. in Rom., I, lect. 5), and St. Augustine: "Si ergo laudas, non tantum lingua canta, sed etiam assumpto bonorum operum psalterio; laudas cum agis negotium, laudas cum cibum et potum capis, laudas cum in lecto requiescis, laudas cum dormis, et quando non laudas?" (In Psalm. 146). An excellent way of transforming the life of action into prayer is the exercise of the presence (v.) of God (cf. J.-N. Grou, op. cit., lect. 35: De la prière continuelle).

V. EFFICACY; QUALITIES

Prayer has three wonderful effects: 1) detachment from creatures, insofar as they are an obstacle to our union with God, with the consequent hatred of sin and of imperfections; 2) union with God, which is accomplished through all the human faculties; 3) progressive transformation into God, insofar as God stoops down toward us and communicates to us his Graces. Pius XII in the encyclical De Corpore Mystico Christi recalls "the tremendous mystery, never sufficiently meditated upon... that the salvation of many depends on the prayers and on the voluntary mortifications undertaken for this purpose" (AAS, 35 [1943], pp. 193-218).

St. Thomas (Expositio orationis Dominicae) enumerates five qualities that prayer must have: "secura, recta, ordinata, devota, humilis"; in the Summ. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 83, a. 15, he fixes seven instead: "perfecta, humilis, continua, devota, vigilans, instans et charitativa". N. Grou (op. cit., lect. 32) requires that prayer be "attenta, umile, rispettosa, amorosa, fiduciosa, perseverante".

On perseverance, as a quality of prayer, Cornelius a Lapide insists, following the teaching of St. Augustine, Serm., 61, ch. 5, and of St. John Chrysostom, In Gen. hom., 30: PG 53, 273 (cf. Beraza, op. cit., p. 1425). The impetratory value of prayer is infallible if it has the following conditions: 1) that one ask for oneself (St. Augustine, In Ioh. tract., 73 and 102: PL 35, 1824-1906; St. Thomas, 2a-2ae, q. 83, a. 15; St. Bonaventure, In II Sent., dist. 27, a. 2, q. 1); Suárez, on the contrary, considers "satis pia et probabilis" the opinion that holds this condition not necessary (op. cit., I, ch. 27, n. 2), and Cornelius a Lapide, Toledo, Habert, St. Alphonsus follow him (op. cit., ch. 3); A. Vermeersch notes that Scripture asserts that every prayer is efficacious and recommends prayer for others; therefore efficacy belongs also to prayer made for others, provided that the others place no positive obstacle; 2) that honest and good goods be asked for; 3) that what is asked not impede a greater good of the soul; 4) that the prayer be pious, that is, proceed from the supernatural principle of Grace, of faith and of firm hope (confidence); 5) that the prayer be persevering. It is discussed whether prayer made for many collectively obtains for individuals as much as it would obtain if it were made for them individually. Several theologians hold that it is less efficacious (cf. St. Thomas, In IV Sent., dist. 45, q. 2, a. 4, 2; Suárez, op. cit., I, ch. 27, n. 5).

VI. OBJECT

The only creature capable of praying is the intellectual creature, that is, besides men living on earth, also the angels and the saints reigning in heaven, who however cannot entreat for themselves, but for men on their pilgrimage (Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 83, a. 11). The souls in purgatory can pray for themselves and probably also for the living. Among those on pilgrimage, both the just and sinners can and must pray.

In order to pray in a manner acceptable to God, the state of Grace is not absolutely necessary (Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 83, a. 16, and Quaest. disp. de potentia, q. VI, a. 9, ad 5um; cf. Suárez, op. cit., I, cap. 8, n. 9). The damned cannot pray. It is debated whether Christ, reigning in heaven, according to his human nature can pray. Some theologians affirm it, basing themselves on Io. 14, 16; I Io. 2, 1; Rom. 8, 39; Hebr. 7, 25.

Through prayer one may ask God for temporal and spiritual goods. St. Thomas establishes the principle: « Nihil debemus petere in oratione nisi in ordine ad beatitudinem » (Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 83, a. 4). Hence one must ask God principally for union with him (ibid., a. 1, ad 2um), for spiritual goods (eternal life, sanctifying grace, the aids of actual grace, the various virtues etc.) « determinate et absolute » (Billuart, Cursus theologiae, VII, disp. II, a. 5a, col. 198). Temporal things (fortune, physical health, intellectual capacity, knowledge etc.) may be asked for « considerare non quidem principaliter sed ut necessaria » and « conditionate, scilicet si saluti expediant » (St. Thomas, ibid., a. 6). The Pater Noster (v.) perfectly comprises every object of our prayer, so that for the Christian « non debet esse liberum alia dicere » (St. Augustine, Epist., 130, 12, 22).

One must first of all pray to God, but it is also lawful and useful to pray to the Virgin and the saints (v.) and the angels reigning in heaven. Can the souls in purgatory be invoked and prayed to? The Church, officially, addresses no prayer to them. Theologians are divided: while St. Thomas (In IV Sent., dist. 15, q. 4, a. 5, quest. 2; Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 83, a. 4, ad 5um) and other theologians deny it, Medina (Codex de oratione, qq. IV, V), Suárez (op. cit., I, cap. 10, nn. 25-28), Bellarmine, Gotti and especially St. Alphonsus (Il gran mezzo ecc. [v. bibl.], 1) admit it. Billuart observes (op. cit., t. VII, disp. II, a. 6a) that one must pray not only for oneself, but also for all other living men, no one excepted. One must also pray for the souls in purgatory. One cannot pray either for the glorified saints or for the damned souls. God willed that man be a social being; prayer cannot fail to take on a social aspect, of a transcendent sociality, insofar as the holy riches that are accumulated as a treasure of merit: « ad omnes pertinent » (Catechismus Rom., p. 1a, a. IX, n. 119). Indeed every prayer made by a member of the Mystical Body of Christ is an increase of the « thesaurus Ecclesiae ». The power of entreaty and of satisfaction of prayer is placed at the disposal of the Church (cf. R. Gräf [v. bibl.], p. 55).

1914; P. Misciatelli, Monte de l'orazione: p. antiche raccolte, Siena 1925; H. Bremond, Introduction à la philosophie de la prière, ivi 1929; J. de Guibert, Essence de la prière et prière pure, in Revue d'accès et de myst., 11 (1930), pp. 225-38, 337-54; Ch. V. Hérié, L'éménité aiguë de la prière de l'Église. Prière liturgique et vie chrétienne, Louvain 1932; R. Plus, Comment bien prier. Comment toujours prier, Toulouse 1932; A. Tanqueray, Compagnie de la teologie ascética et mystica, Italian trans., Rome 1930, part 1, V. § 4, pp. 315-34; A. Fonck, Prière, in DThC, XIII, coll. 169-244; R. Graf, Maestro, insegnaci a pregare, Italian trans., Brescia 1941; A. Stols, L'accès cristiana, 2nd ed., Brescia 1944, p. 124-82; P. Charles, La p. vissuta, Italian trans., 6th ed., Turin-Rome 1946, pp. 257-59; F. Brambilla, La necessità della p. secondo s. Agustino, Rome 1946; various authors, La p., Milan 1947; G. Liévin, Un aforismo di s. Alfonso de Liguori: chi non prega si danna, in Vita cristiana, 20 (1931), pp. 78-80; G. Dirks, Notes sur la prière, in Revue d'accès et de mystique, 31 (1931), pp. 105-31. Non-Catholics: M. Fr. Heiler, Das Gebet. Eine religionsgeschichtliche und religionspsychologische Untersuchung, Munich 1918, 3rd ed. 1921; W. P. Paterson, D. Russel and others, The power of prayer, London 1920; J. Segond, La prière. Etude de psychologie religieuse, Paris 1925; F. Ménégos, Le problème de la prière, Strasbourg 1925; M. Puglisi, La p., Turin 1928; A. Laub, Gebetslehre mit psychologischen Himmelsen und Richtlinien, Eisenstein 1949.

Umile da Genova

VII. THE PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL (oratio fidelium)

It is that recited in common by Christians in their assemblies, after the reading of the Gospel and the sermon of the officiating bishop, and concluded with the exchange of the kiss of peace. Only the baptized were present, that is, the faithful, the catechumens having been dismissed. In it the various categories of persons and the ordinary needs of the universal Church were mentioned in succession. The celebrating bishop improvised or recited in the name of those present the prayer, having it preceded by a brief invitational formula: « Oremus pro... » and indicating the intentions to be given to the prayer; the deacon intervened only to give the faithful the order to kneel.

According to the admonition of St. Paul (I Tim. 2, 1) this prayer is found in use from the earliest times, perhaps already hinted at by Clement I in the letter to the Corinthians, then described by Justin (Apoc., I, 65, 1), Tertullian, Cyprian, Hippolytus of Rome and Augustine. For the Roman Church it is attested by Boniface I (418-22) and Celestine I (423-32); the word oratio occurs for the first time in a letter of Felix II (III) of 488. In the Churches of Gaul perhaps the same formulas of Rome were in use, attested in the Capitula of St. Prosper of Aquitaine (d. 440). A codicil of the Council of Lyon of 517 alludes to the « oratio plebis quae post Evangelium legitur ».

Of the Roman and Gallican form there is an example in the "Orationes solemnes" of Good Friday, a text which, according to citations of St. Prosper of Aquitaine, was already in force in Rome in the 5th century and at the end of the 4th. Some invocations of these prayers seem to go back to the times of Celestine I, attested in an older account in his letter to the bishops of Galatia. In force in Rome still under Felix II-III (483-92), they later disappeared from the ordinary liturgy and remained in use only, as today, on Good Friday; in the Middle Ages also on the preceding Wednesday. In Gaul, after the Council of Lyon of 517, the sacramentaries no longer preserve any trace of them. In this period another form came into use, the "diaconal" litany (different from the so-called oratio fidelium), thus called because the deacon pronounced the invocation and the intention and the people responded with the acclamation "Kyrie eleison". Having arisen first in Antioch in the 4th century, the use then spread to Constantinople, whence it passed to the Latin liturgies. The "Kyrie eleison" of the Roman Mass and Office is its direct derivation, as are also the two Ambrosian diaconal litanies for the Sundays of Lent and the various "preces" of a penitential character preserved for us in the Mozarabic books. When the new litanic prayers were introduced into the Latin Mass by Gelasius I (492-96), before the readings, the traditional oratio fidelium was abandoned, perhaps also because of the development of the offertory rites and chants. But even the "deprecatio Gelasii papae" has disappeared, the only vestige of it remaining in the "Kyrie eleison". Nevertheless a reminiscence and a final evolution of this ancient oratio is found in the form of particular recommendations enunciated by the celebrant, and mentioned by Regino of Prüm (d. 915) in the De ecclesiasticis disciplinis, I, 290 (PL 132, 224). Before the sermon, the celebrant invited prayer for the various needs and the various categories of persons: these are the first traces of the "prone" (from "praecorium"), in use throughout the West in the Middle Ages. Similarly in the 12th century Honorius of Autun (Speculum Ecclesiae: PL 172, 827) speaks of a litany of the priest after the sermon; to the individual invocations the people responded with "Amen" and at the end with "Kyrie eleison". In Germany the so-called "common p." ("Allmächtiger, ewiger Gott") was said, whose text was drafted by St. Peter Canisius. A similar p. was also recited in the diocese of Turin at the beginning of our century; the priest exhorted or invited prayer "to His Divine Majesty for the state of the universal Mother Church and in particular for our Holy Father the pope... for all the Christian people..., for perseverance... penance, for the fruits of the earth, etc."

Pietro Siffrin

VIII. PRAYER AMONG PRIMITIVE PEOPLES

Prayer is a general religious manifestation among primitive populations. Prayers have been found even among populations that do not practice sacrifice (v.). The number of populations belonging to original cultures among which prayer has not so far been found is minimal and legitimately suggests that this absence is not real but due to studies not sufficiently thorough.

No prayers of the Andamanese are known, although they practice the sacrifice of firstfruits. But it is difficult to conceive of an offering not accompanied by a prayer, at least mental. Of the Coriachi only prayers united with sacrifices are known. The Alakaluf do not make impetratory prayers but other forms of prayer. It was held that this was lacking among the more archaic Australian populations (southeastern group); instead, prayers have been found both in the mythology of these populations and in the most solemn ceremonies of the tribe, which are the initiations of the young (v. INITIATION, II. I. of youth).

The Kurnai (New South Wales) relate that in ancient times one of their tribe revealed the secret of the initiations to the women. This greatly irritated the Supreme Being Mungan ngaua (which means "our father"), who with his fire, the aurora australis, kindled a great conflagration that filled all the space between heaven and earth, so that men lost their senses and slaughtered one another; then the sea flooded the earth and few were saved. Since then the Kurnai fear the aurora australis so much that when it appears they entreat: "Send it away, do not let it burn us!" Hovitt does not say to whom this prayer is directed; from the context it seems addressed to the Supreme Being because he in ancient times sent the aurora australis.

The Kamilaroi, the Wiradjuri and the Euahlayi (New South Wales) recognize a Supreme Being called Baiame. The Kamilaroi relate that once a medicine man ascended to heaven to ask favors of Baiame for his people. The medicine man of the Chepara also ascends at night to heaven to obtain from the Supreme Being

Maamba all good things for his people. On the occasion of the ceremony of initiation of the young Wiradjuri, the chief of the medicine men withdraws for a certain time, then returns and tells those present that he has been, for their good, in the dwelling of Baiame which is in heaven. The Euahlayi report that Baiame is the creator; however, he does not wish to be disturbed from the rest he enjoys after his earthly labors, and therefore they hold that it would be madness or an insult to pray to him every day, and they entreat him only in particularly grave and solemn circumstances. Among the same Euahlayi, during the initiation ceremony called boorah, the eldest of the tribe turns toward the east, which is the direction in which the dead are buried, and repeatedly entreats Baiame to grant a long life to those present because they have been obedient to his commandments and have practiced the ceremonies. Furthermore, the Euahlayi attribute a particular efficacy to the prayer of an orphan who, turned toward the sky, asks Baiame for rain crying: "Water, fall! Water, fall!" The same natives have a clear concept of a sanction: during burial they address prayers to Baiame for the souls of the dead (Parker). The good after death go to heaven where Baiame resides. He is merciful: he shortens a punishment (illness) on earth and, through the intercession of his son, allows even those who have not been entirely good to enter heaven. The Yuin too (southern coast of Australia) believe that after death the good go to heaven where the Supreme Being is. According to an old source (James Manning), the southern Wiradjuri also pray beside the tomb of dead persons so that Baiame may take them with him into heaven. The Warramunga (Northern Territory, Australia) greatly fear a giant serpent called Vollunqua which dwells in a cave from which it comes out from time to time and devours men. When they approach this cavern, they entreat it not to harm them. The prayers that have been reported (especially those that K. Langloh Parker reports in her monograph on the Euahlayi) have been contested by evolutionist ethnologists and especially by R. R. Marett. But A. Lang has validly defended them as authentic, and Father Schmidt is of the same opinion (see the discussion in Man, London, 7 [1907], nos. 2, 28, 42, 61, 62, 72 and the entry God by A. Lang, in Enc. of Rel. and Eth., VI, pp. 243-47). Parker rightly observes that the prayers she reports cannot be due to the influence of the Protestant missions (in this territory there are no Catholic missions) because her observations on the Euahlayi are earlier than the founding of the mission and her source was an old man. Let it be added further that Protestants generally do not admit purgatory and do not pray for the dead. Therefore teachings on this particular aspect of prayer could hardly be attributed to the missionaries. The opposition to these factual data is instead rooted in the evolutionist preconception that the populations of Australia were the crudest on the scale of religious evolution and therefore without prayer. This preconception has unfortunately influenced even excellent explorers and missionaries, so that one may ask whether investigations carried out objectively would not have brought to light a greater number of prayers of these populations, now largely extinct.

Much more numerous are the prayers, whether isolated or united with sacrifices, collected among the primitive populations of the other parts of the world. Isolated prayers are uttered or conceived even only mentally. Prayer is connected with the happy or sad circumstances of life and can be addressed: 1) to the Supreme Being; 2) to personifications of particular qualities of the Supreme Being: for example, to the spirit of thunder and of the rainbow, or to rather vague figures that personify creation, the preservation of man, the power to send death, etc.; 3) to spirits of various kinds that populate nature, created by animism; 4) to deified dead (especially to the ancestor); 5) to earthly divinities and, in more recent cultures, also to fetishes.

The Supreme Being is always conceived as good; the other religious figures can be beneficent or maleficent. The maleficent ones, rather than being prayed to, are placated with sacrifices: "Giok (name of the maleficent spirit), I have made you a sacrifice, and why do you kill me!", or: "Giok, yesterday I made you a sacrifice and you killed another one of mine!". "Abila (= the dead) you told me through the mouth of the sorcerer that you would kill me; I made you the sacrifice and why do you kill me?" (lamentations of the Acioli of Uganda over the death of their children). Where the figure of the Supreme Being is still alive and receives a cult, the prayers to the lower divinities are few. These are invoked above all as intermediaries with the Supreme Being: "The things that men desire Giok asks of Lubanga and gives them to men; Giok asks Lubanga as a son asks his father". "The soul of one who has been killed... prays to Lubanga from under the earth: Lubanga, I desire that vengeance be done for me!" (Acioli of Uganda). The peoples who have greatly developed animism and manism address prayers more frequently to the lower spirits and much less to the Supreme Being. This change occurs above all among agricultural peoples, but there are populations still belonging to the original cultures who already pray to the lower spirits. Thus do the Ainu of Japan, during a ceremony in which they offer the dregs of wine mixed with other substances: "To you, our ancestors, who are now in the underworld we offer... the dregs of the wine; accept (these offerings) and rejoice. Your descendants have gathered here expressly to do this. Rejoice! Watch over us and preserve us from illnesses, give us a long life, so that we may continue to make you this offering".

Sometimes in the same prayer they invoke at the same time all the beings who receive a cult. When the Dinka (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) have a good harvest they make a thanksgiving sacrifice to the Supreme Being Nhialic who has given the rain. The sacrifice is accompanied by this prayer: "Nhialic, listen to your children and hear their words, we are like insects before You, and you totems and you spirits all unite with Nhialic (and hear our words with him)".

The most frequent prayers refer to the necessities of daily life and express a concrete and immediate need of the one praying for himself, for his family, for his kin, for his friend, for the village: difficult situations, deliverance from illnesses, epidemics and misfortunes, the desire for offspring, for livestock, for a good harvest, abundant spoils of hunting and fishing, protection in dangers, victory in war. These prayers are generally short, spontaneous, not bound to a fixed formula, often accompanied by a gesture or a movement of the body that generally expresses the state of mind of the one praying: lament, supplication, emotion, grief, indignation, joy, gratitude, wrath, passion. The Acioli say: "In all their needs they invoke Lubanga or think of him; however there are no fixed formulas nor teachings on prayer;... each one asks for what he desires;... each one says what comes to his mouth. Prayer comes of itself spontaneously, no one teaches it to children; if you beat a child he immediately starts to cry without anyone having taught him".

Laments: "He gave me a child only to take him back again!". "The second year begins that I am alone!" (laments of a mother and of a widow to Wataninena, the Supreme Being of the Yamana, Tierra del Fuego). The lament can also be accompanied by a gesture of despair. Sometimes the Acioli, over the death of a child, seize a spear and brandish it forcefully, as if they suddenly found themselves before an enemy, expressing the desire to strike the Supreme Being, if they could see him. They shout: "Lubanga, you are wicked! Why do you kill my children?... Lubanga, why did you make (create) this child? If you did not want to leave him to me, you should not have let me see his eyes!".

Questions are frequent: the Shilluk (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) in all the needs of life turn directly to Giuok. "Giuok help me!" is a common expression. The Mao of Ethiopia pray thus to their Supreme Being: "Veretti, as You make the grass grow, so grant... that our children may grow up healthy and our harvests not be destroyed". Among the Nuer (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan), when once a year the livestock must cross the Nile because they change pastures, the sorcerer spends the preceding night in the exercise of the practices necessary for this crossing to take place successfully, and in the morning he makes the following prayer: "O God, it was you who said that I was to be the sorcerer, that I was to practice magic and charm the crocodile. The livestock has no more grass, make it able to cross the river and graze on the other bank. O God, you created the livestock with which man must nourish himself, let it cross safely to the other side". The Shilluk when they go hunting or fishing: "Lord, I am here to pray to you, why do you not help us? Who can command you? Was it not you who made men? If you take away life (which is your right) this is your affair". The Dinka pray to Nhialic to heal a person: "Save him, he is good and never did harm to anyone!". The Negritos during a storm: "Have pity on me and make the rain cease, because we are truly poor and our hut is not solid!".

Expressions of thanksgiving are also frequent: "Thank you, my Father, who have been kind to me today!". Thus the Yamana give thanks after an abundant hunt or catch of fish. Speaking of the joy of spouses who have had children, an elderly Acioli expressed himself in these terms: "When they enter the house their heart rejoices at the sight of the children that Lubanga has given them".

There is no lack of prayers that also embrace persons who do not belong to the family and the village. During sacrifices to the Supreme Being the Dinka sorcerer says and the people repeat: "Our Nhialic, we hate no one on earth, no one hates another; if someone hates me I wish him well, if someone loves me I too wish him well". This prayer is worthy of particular attention because it expresses the dispositions necessary for the sacrifice to be acceptable, namely not to harbor hatred even against those who do harm.

Peoples of America, of Africa and perhaps also of other territories pray before and after meals, or only before. The populations that pray regularly in the morning and in the evening are much rarer (v. in Schmidt the beautiful morning and evening prayers that the Galla address to the Supreme Being).

Generally this form of prayer is isolated, but sometimes it is joined to a kind of sacrifice of first fruits. Thus do some groups of Algonquins (Montagnais) who, before beginning to eat, throw a little food into the fire and observe the smoke that rises from it.

Various peoples of North America (Lenape, Arapaho) and others periodically celebrate ceremonies, which sometimes last several days, during which they repeatedly address prayers to the Supreme Being. Some of these ceremonies are sacred representations of the creation with recitative and dramatic parts of the myths relating to the earliest times.

In totemistic culture magic, founded on the irrational, almost completely replaces religion. And yet prayer dies and is replaced by the magic formula with which one believes one can overcome even the divinity.

Renato Boccassino

IX. THE VARIOUS TYPES OF PRAYER IN NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS

In these, prayer, besides being expressed in words, can also manifest itself through gestures and movements that mimetically express the thing that is requested or that one wishes to avert: it is known that dance is originally a prayer in action. To this primitive stage one can link those cases of materialization of prayer that consist in materially perpetuating the act or the formula of the one praying, as would be, for example, the custom of hanging a scrap of cloth on a tree or throwing a stone near the place where one has prayed, as the Muslims of Syria and Africa do; or of turning by water, by hand, or by wind a cylinder on which sacred formulas are written, as the lamaists of Tibet do: at each turn there is the merit of a prayer effectively recited.

From the concept of prayer the magical formula must be excluded, because this does not implore but seeks to compel, by the force of the gesture and the word, the powers to which it is directed, and it is used by a sorcerer, not by the representative of the community, and for individual and often harmful ends, not for the social good.

In non-Christian religions prayer is distinguished according to three main types: a) a utilitarian prayer, of a contractual type according to the formula do ut des, in which the one praying promises gifts to the divinity in exchange for the goods he requests. This type is the most widespread among primitive peoples and is also the one most in use among persons of scant inner elevation. Thus the Ianeg Negritos offer a part of the wild boar killed in the hunt, saying: "O Lord, we offer you this so that you may be benevolent and give us a boar." A most effective example is that of the prayer to the Fates made on the occasion of the Secular Games of 17 B.C., in which Augustus offered the Fates nine goats and nine lambs, asking in exchange for the increase of the power and glory of the Roman people.

b) The second type of prayer is intermediate (Heiler calls it "prophetic"); it presents itself as a noble evolution of the preceding one and ends up becoming a type of its own, the best suited to the average of the human spirit. In it the one praying conceives the divinity as morally most exalted, not corruptible with promises or alluring offers: he therefore pours himself out in praises of its perfection and mercy, feels his own misery and unworthiness, and after this sincere captatio benevolentiae asks for the things that are necessary to his material and spiritual life: the Pater Noster is the unsurpassed and unsurpassable type of this second type of prayer.

c) Mystical prayer constitutes the third type, which is the privilege of few. In it the one praying, forgetful of all that can serve for the sustenance of his material life, tends toward the fusion of himself with the divinity through the annihilation of the individual will and desire. This third type of prayer is not found in the natural religions which, in their rites and formulas, express only the fundamental needs and aspirations of the group, but in the great historical religions that arose as a reform or a sublimation of previous religious schemes, because only in this type is there a most lofty concept of the divinity, a corresponding ethical code, and religious duty conceived as a faithful following of a most perfect God or as an assimilation to him through the charisms of a sacrificial action. Therefore mystical prayer is found in the supranational or universal religions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity. An example of mystical prayer in the 2nd century of the Empire is found in the prayer to Isis formulated by Apuleius of Madaura in ch. 25 of the 11th book of the Metamorphoses. In it the protagonist Lucius, restored by the goddess Isis from asinine form to human form, after the most enthusiastic praises of the goddess, declares that he does not feel worthy to sing her praises, but that he "will engrave in the secret of his heart her divine face and will keep it guarded there in perpetuity."

Form of prayer. - 1. The typical form of prayer is that which the Latins called precatio and which Christianity calls oratio, that is, a formula of praise or of request, or a mixture of both, directed to the god, preceded by the invocation of the name; if it is made by the priest in the name of the community, the latter responds with a formula of assent (amen, so be it, etc.). Prayer takes on a more social character when it has the form of a litany (from Alvouzi = I pray, I beseech), whether it glorifies the divinity with various titles or enumerates the different necessities in which the community finds itself. In either case there is a leader who proposes the praise or sets forth the request, while the community responds with a phrase of consent to the proposed concept; often it is associated with processional walking (v. PROCESSION).

The ejaculatory prayer (from suculare "to hurl") is a brief formula, often laudatory, hurled toward the divinity. Because of its brevity, its invocatory form, and the ease with which it is remembered and repeated, it can, more easily than other forms of prayer, assume a magical meaning and be used as a powerful incantation against the evil eye and evil spirits. Typical cases are the formula: "Om mani padme hum—O jewel in the lotus, amen" of Tibetan Buddhism; the first sūrah of the Qur'an and the Muslim formula of faith, which is repeated up to thousands of times, so as to provoke, when associated with rhythmic movements of the head and body, a state of exaltation.

2. Psalmody

It is a rhythmic prayer, of a solemn character, in which the community expresses to God the various sentiments of the soul, especially on the occasion of the various festivities of the religious year. It is generally recited alternately in a consecrated place. It is the typical liturgical prayer of Judaism, adopted in large part also by Christianity. A psalmodic form was taken in Babylon by the so-called penitential psalms.

3. The hymn

It belongs to the same category as the psalm, but its structure is more agile and it is, in origin, intimately associated with the sacred dance. A typical example of a danced hymn is that of the Curetes of the pre-Hellenic religion of Crete (Palaikastro); and the poem composed by Horace on the occasion of the Secular Games of 17 B.C. In Christian liturgy the hymn, written with agile meter and modulated to a more vibrant music, serves to summarize the characteristics of the festivity that is being celebrated.

4. The gesture of prayer

It naturally varies according to peoples and according to the quality of the ceremony. In general it can be stated that two are the gestures most universally used among peoples who have a constituted liturgical prayer: a) the raising of the hands toward heaven or toward the image of the divinity; b) the prostration on the ground or at least the bending of the knees. Christianity knows both these manners of adoration. Among Muslims prayer includes a somewhat gymnastic set of movements, among which there is both prostration and the raising of the hands. For orientation in prayer v. ORIENTATION. - See plate CXXX. Nicola Tarchi