Vh.— C c
deserves mention. But the master of modern oratorios is Mendelssohn. Indeed, his greatest works are in this line of composition, as his *SY. Paul and Elijah. His great ambition was to reawaken an interest in the ora- torio, especially in Great Britain ; and since his day oratorios are performed on a large scale at Exeter Hall, London, and at the musical festivals throughout Eng- land, with a power, precision, and perfection before un- heard of, and unknown anywhere else. The greatest oratorio performances probably in the world are those of the triennial festivals at the Sydenham Crystal Pal- ace. In the United States musical societies are aiming for a like development, and iu very recent times a num- ber of oratorios have been printed and performed. Bradbury and Mason have labored in this direction, but the most successful compositions are by J. A. But- terfield, of Chicago, who has been called to different parts of this large country, and has trained a host of musical associations with extraordinary success. Among his best compositions are Belshazzar and Ruth and Nai- ami. See, besides the works on music referred to, Pe7my Cyclop, s. v.; Chambers, Cyclop, s. v.; Academy (Lond. 1872), p. 80; Presb. Qu. and Princet. Rev. Jan. 1875, art. viii.
Oratorium. See Oratory.
Oratory is the Latin name Avhich was anciently given to places of public worship in general, as being houses of prayer [see Proseuciia] ; but in later times, in contradistinction from ecclesia, has been applied to smaller or domestic chapels. Oratory is used among the Komanists to denote a closet or little apartment near a bedchamber, furnished with a little altar, crucifix, and other furniture, suited, in their view, to a place for pri- vate devotion. It is more correctly applied to such a place of worship as Luke refers to in Acts xiii — an up- per chamber, in which the early Christians worshipped for safety, to preserve their secret discipline from the knowledge of the heathen, and in distinction from the pagan exhibition of graven images on the ground-floor of buildings, and also in memory of the place of the Last Supper. The rise of private places of worship, called tvKTtipia, outlasted the times of persecution, and were permitted, under certain restrictions, by the councils of Saragossa (A.D. 381) and Gangra. The name oratory is also applied to a chapel in which no mass may be said without permission of the ordinary. There are several kinds: l,a monk's cell; 2, a private chapel, recognised by the Council of Ayde (506) ; 3, a chapel in the coim- try without a district; 4, the private portion of a min- ster reserved for the use of the convent; the choir; a chapel attached to the chapter-house ; 5, in the 6th or 7th century a burial chapel, or a chapel in a cemetery, in which mass Avas said at times, when the bishop sent a priest to celebrate ; C, a chantry chapel in a churchi In 1027 Alexis, patriarch of Constantinople, condemned the abuse of oratories, in which persons of power had assumed to have baptism administered and to assem- ble congregations under a license. The private chapel of the dukes of Burgundy was rebuilt as the cathcr dral of Autun : the chateau of the Bourbons became that of Moulins. The ancient Cornish oratories are simple parallelograms, and contain a stone altar and well; they are sometimes raised on artificial mounds. In the Middle Ages oratories became a common ap- pendage to the castles and residences of the nobility, and were of two kinds : the first simply for private and family praj'er and other devotions; the second for cele- bration of mass. The latter fell properly under the jurisT diction of the bishop or the parochial clergv, and many jealousies and disputes grew out of their establishment or direction. The Council of Trent (sess. xxii, De Ret forjnatione) placed them under very stringent regular tions, which have been enforced and developed by latef popes, especially by Benedict XIV. See Walcott, Sat cred Archeology, s. v.; Kiddle, Christian Antiquities, ■<pk 70.3,721. See Chapel. ...J
ORATORY, PRIESTS OF THE 402
ORBISON
Oratory, Priests (or Fathers) of the, is the name of two Koman Catholic congregations of devotees who flourished in Italy and France respectively. Their or! fin and early history has been largely detailed in the article on Neri, St, Filii-po de (q. v.). This celebrated religious enthusiast was the founder of the Italian congregation, but he never framed any rules for their government and direction. His scattered papers, from which his plans and intentions might have been collected, had been burned by his orders a short time before his death. Soon after that event the fathers, at the instance of Baronius, after due counsel, compiled from the existing practices and from memory a rule for the congregation, framed so as to embody the spirit of their founder. This rule was approved by Paul V on Feb. 21, 1612. The Fathers of the Congregation are a body of priests living in community, but without vows, and under a constitution of a highly democrat- ical character. They are at liberty to withdraw at any time, and to resume possession of the property which
Priest of the French Oratory.
they brought with them at entrance ; and even dur- ing their association each member manages his own financial concerns, only contributing a tixed sum to the common expenses of the community. There is no su- perior-general, as in other orders. Each house is dis- tinct and independent. In each the superior is elected only for three years, and his position does not give him any personal pre-eminence whatever. The members take their places according to seniority, not according to official rank, and the superior is compelled to take his turn in all the duties, even down to the semi-raenial office of serving in the refectory. The main occupa- tions of the fathers, beyond those of attending to the public service of the church, and the duties of the pulpit and the confessional, lie in the cultivation of theolog- ical and other sacred studies, of which "conferences" for the discussion, in common, of theological questions form a principal feature. The congregation has pro- duced many men of great eminence in sacred science, among whom may be named the great Church histo- rian, cardinal Baronius, and his continuators. To these may be added the celebrated explorers of the Roman catacombs, Bosin. Severani, and Aringhi, and the no less eminent patristical scholar, (iallandi. The houses of the Oratory in Italy before the lievolutioii were nu- merous and in high repute. Few towns of any impor- tance were without a house of the Oratorv.