The collect ( ) is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy.
Collects come up in the liturgies of Catholic, Lutheran, or Anglican churches, among others.
Etymology
The word is first seen as Latin collēcta, the term used in Rome in the 5th century and the 10th, although in the Tridentine version of the Roman Missal the more generic term oratio (prayer) was used instead.
- Invocation or address: indicating the person of Trinity addressed, usually God the Father, rarely God the Son
- Acknowledgement: description of a divine attribute that relates to the petition (often qui ... - who ... )
- Petition: "for one thing only and that in the tersest language" This prayer is said immediately before the Epistle.
Lutheranism
Lutheran liturgies typically retain traditional collects for each Sunday of the liturgical year. At Evening Prayer the Collect of the Day is followed by a Collect for Peace which differs from the version used at Morning Prayer, and a Collect for Aid against Perils, which starts with the well known phrase; "Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night...".
At Holy Communion, the Collect of the Day is followed by a reading from the Epistles. In more modern Anglican versions of the Communion service, such as Common Worship used in the Church of England or the 1979 Book of Common Prayer used in the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Collect of the Day follows the Gloria and precedes readings from the Bible.
Continental Reformed
The Huguenots used collects derived from the Psalms and published in the Psalter in 1563.
Scottish Presbyterianism
The "Oraisons" of the French Psalter were translated by and published in the Scottish Metrical Psalter in 1595. Over time the use of written prayers fell out of favor in the Church of Scotland.
See also
- Secret (liturgy)
- Kontakion
- Stir-up Sunday