''Oremus'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: "Let us pray") is the invitation to pray, said before short prayers in the

Catholic Mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass, "the same Christ ...

and the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Divine Service, as well as other Western liturgies. It is used as a single

exclamation An exclamation is an emphatic utterance, the articulate expression of an affect. Exclamation may also refer to: * Exclamation mark, the punctuation mark "!" * Exclamation, an emphatic interjection * Exclamation, a statement against penal interest ...

in the East (in the rites of the

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

and Syriac Orthodox churches), denoting the imperative "Pray" or "Stand for prayer" (in the

Coptic Church The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...

); most commonly, however with a further determination, "Let us pray to the Lord" (τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν, used throughout the

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. Th ...

, where the laity replies with ''

Kyrie Eleison Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek , vocative case of (''Kyrios''), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the Kyrie eleison ( ; ). In the Bible The prayer, "Kyrie, eleison," "Lord, have mercy" derives f ...

'' before the priest recites the prayer), and so on.

Louis Duchesne Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne (; 13 September 1843 – 21 April 1922) was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions. Life Descended from a family of Breton sailors, ...

thought that the Gallican

Collect The collect ( ) is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy. Collects appear in the liturgies of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches, among oth ...

s were also introduced by the word "Oremus" ("Origines du Culte", Paris, 1898, 103). That was not the case in the Mozarabic Rite, where the celebrant uses the word only twice, before the ''

Agios ''Agios'' ( el, Άγιος), plural ''Agioi'' (), transcribes masculine gender Greek words meaning ' sacred' or ' saint' (for example Agios Dimitrios, Agioi Anargyroi). It is frequently shortened in colloquial language to ''Ai'' (for example Ai ...

'' and ''

Pater noster The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

''. ''Oremus'' is said (or sung) in the

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...

before all separate

collect The collect ( ) is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy. Collects appear in the liturgies of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches, among oth ...

s in the

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

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, or on other occasions (but several collects may be joined with one Oremus). It is also used before the

Post-Communion Postcommunion (Latin: Postcommunio) is the text said or sung on a reciting tone following the Communion of the Mass. Form Every Postcommunion (and secret) corresponds to a collect. These are the three fundamental prayers of any given Proper Mass. ...

, the offertory, and before the introduction to the ''

'' and other short prayers (e.g., ''Aufer a nobis'') in the form of collects. It appears that the ''Oremus'' did not originally apply to the prayer that now follows it. It is thought that it was once an invitation to private prayer, very likely with further direction as to the object, as is now the case in the liturgy for

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

(''Oremus pro ecclesia sancta Dei''). The deacon then said: ''Flectamus genua'' ("let us kneel"), and all knelt in silent prayer. After a time the people were told to stand up (''Levate''), and finally the celebrant collected all the petitions in one short sentence said aloud (hence, the

). Eventually this was simplified into the word alone preceding the prayer.

References

External links

Home page of Church of England Oremus websiteHome page of Roman Catholic Oremus Music websiteHome page of Orémus Press Newspaper website
Latin religious words and phrases Order of Mass {{Latin-stub