Oratio Super Populum
ORATIO SUPER POPULUM
The presider's prayer of blessing over the assembly before the dismissal at the end of Mass. It is introduced by the words "Bow your heads and pray for God's blessing." (In Latin, "Humiliate capita vestra Deo"). The Sacramentary of Verona (Leonine Sacramentary) testifies to the Oratio super populum as a blessing given at the close of every Mass. It is evident from the contents of many of these prayers that this was primarily a blessing given to all. Little by little it was restricted until St. Gregory I confined it to the ferial days of Lent. In the Middle Ages, the Oratio super populum was supplanted (outside of Lent) by a general blessing at the end of Mass. The liturgical reforms initiated by Vatican II brought about a revival of this practice. The revised Sacramentary and other liturgical books provide a wide range of options for use on solemnities, feasts, and Sundays.
Bibliography: j. a. jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite, tr. f. a. brunner (rev. ed. New York 1959) 531–535. a. g. martimort, ed., L'Église en prière (Tournai 1961) 431–432.
[w. j. o'shea/eds.]