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Super Populum
A prayer of blessing said over the people by the celebrant at the conclusion of the liturgy. The term means "over the people" in Latin. In Lent, this solemn prayer over the people is used in place of a seasonal blessing. The BOS provides six forms for this prayer during Lent. It also provides one form for use from Palm Sunday through Maundy Thursday. Before this solemn Prayer over the People, the deacon or celebrant directs the people to "Bow down before the Lord." This ancient form of blessing prayer was used after the postcommunion at every Mass in the Leonine sacramentary. This seventh-century book is the oldest surviving book of prayers for the eucharist according to the Roman rite. The super populum was used only on the weekdays of Lent in the Gregorian sacramentary. The prayer became a blessing of public penitents. It came to be associated with Lent as public penitential discipline was discontinued and Lent became a penitential season for the whole church. The 1549 BCP did not include the Lenten super populum. Use of this prayer is not required by the Prayer Book. See Seasonal Blessings.
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Glossary definitions provided courtesy of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY,(All Rights reserved) from "An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians," Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, editors. |
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