Oratory (church building)

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Oratorio dei SS. Quaranta Martiri (at S. Maria Antiqua in the Roman Forum)

Oratorium (German "House of Prayer", English "oratory", French "oratoire") was originally a meeting room for early Christians in private homes, later a chapel-like building or a private or semi-public prayer room that is closed off from the main room. The musical generic term oratorium (identical in German, English and French "oratorio") arose around 1640 in Rome in connection with the spiritual exercises of the oratorians , a spiritual community of priests and lay people founded by Filippo Neri .

Floor plan of the Lateran Baptistery with the Oratorio di San Venanzio (annex below left)
Oratorio di San Venanzio as an annex to the Lateran Baptistery

About history

The origin of the oratorios is probably due to the setting up of a prayer room at the shrines of the martyrs for the faithful to enable them to pray at the place of martyrdom or at the tomb of the martyr or near his relics . In monasteries , the oratorio is usually located in the closed area or in an adjoining room of the church. Oratorios are also located in a log-like manner on a gallery of the choir or the nave with windows facing the main room.

St. Benedict used the term oratorio in his Rule , which originated in the 6th century, for the place where the community gathers for prayer.

The Codex Iuris Canonici (CIC), the canon law of the Catholic Church , in the version of 1917 differentiated between different types of oratorios: privatoriums (which only certain persons were allowed to use, e.g. a bishop or a family and their guests), semi-public oratorios (the open to the faithful under certain conditions) or public oratorios (set up for the benefit of all believers).

The 1983 CIC no longer differentiates between public, semi-public or private oratorios. The term oratory has since defined a private place of prayer for a group or community that can be made accessible to the faithful at the superior's discretion. This definition corresponds to that of the so - called semi - public oratorio from the CIC of 1917. Such oratorios can only be set up with the permission of the diocesan bishop , who has previously checked whether the oratorio is “appropriately furnished”.

Early Christian examples in Rome

The most famous early Christian oratorios in Rome include:

  • 460: Oratorio della Santa Croce as an annex to the Lateran Baptistery: A cross-shaped central building destroyed in 1588 to store a cross relic .
  • 7th century: Oratorio dei Quaranta Martiri: memorial for the 40 soldiers executed in Armenia around 320 under Emperor Licinius .
  • 640: Oratorio di San Venanzio as an annex to the Lateran Baptistery: memorial for the martyr Venantius of Salona, ​​whose relics were kept there with the relics of other martyrs from Dalmatia ; the apse mosaic with the Theophany of Christ and Mary as Orantin between Saints is received.
  • 706: Oratory of Pope John VII: Marienkapelle formerly in the right outer aisle of Alt-St. Peter, which Pope John VII initially intended as his mausoleum .

  • Archbishop's Chapel in Ravenna

  • Oratory of the Irish Scottish Church in County Kerry

  • Floor plan of the oratory in Germigny-des-Prés

  • Germigny-des-Prés Abbey Church

  • Tracery parapet to the oratory in the parish church of St. Oswald in Eisenerz

  • San Giovanni in Oleo at the Porta Latina in Rome

  • Oratory of St. Filippo Neri in Rome

  • Oratory in the Franciscan monastery in Villach

Further examples

  • 6th century: Archbishop's Chapel (Ravenna) : Chapel built on a cross-shaped floor plan in the Episcopal Palace of Ravenna, which with its mosaics has been preserved to this day and is therefore a World Heritage Site.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lexicon for Theology and Church (LThK), Freiburg 2006, Volume 7, Sp. 1086ff.
  2. ↑ CIC 608, 733, 857
  3. ↑ CIC 1224
  4. ^ Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century, Regensburg 2013, pp. 168f.
  5. ^ Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century, Regensburg 2013, p. 48ff.
  6. ↑ Kristina Friedrichs: Episcopus plebi Dei. The representation of the early Christian popes. Regensburg 2015, pp. 235ff. and 242f.
  7. ↑ Walther Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present. Vienna 1970, vol. 2, p. 465ff.
  8. ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian sacred buildings from the 4th to the 9th century - Ein Vademecum, Freiburg, 2nd edition 2017, p. 298f.
  9. ↑ Walther Buchowiecki: Handbook of the Churches of Rome. The Roman sacred building in history and art from early Christian times to the present. Vienna 1967, vol. 1, p. 93f.
  10. ^ Hugo Brandenburg: The early Christian churches in Rome from the 4th to the 7th century, Regensburg 2013, p. 52ff.
  11. ↑ Maria Andaloro: The churches of Rome. A tour in pictures - Medieval paintings in Rome 312–1431. Mainz 2008, pp. 25 and 40f.
  12. ↑ Hans Georg Wehrens: Rome - The Christian Sacred Buildings from the 4th to the 9th Century - Ein Vademecum, Freiburg, 2nd edition 2017, pp. 117f.
  13. ^ Carola Jäggi: Ravenna. Art and culture of a late antique royal seat, Regensburg 2013, pp. 221–223

Web links

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