ThePostcommunion orPrayer after Communion, inCatholicliturgy, is the text said or sung following theCommunion of the Mass.
The prayer after communion was mentioned in the first centuryDidache document.
The Communion act finishes the essentialEucharistic service, and early Masses, as described byJustin Martyr, did not have anything afterward. However, prayers were later added. The earliest complete liturgy extant, that of the "Apostolic Constitutions", contains two such prayers, a thanksgiving and a blessing.[1]
A significant resemblance between theRoman Rite and that of the "Apostolic Constitutions" is that at Rome, too, there were formerly at every Mass two prayers of the same nature. In the "Leonine Sacramentary" they have no title, but according toAdrian Fortescue, "their character is obvious". TheGelasian Sacramentary calls the firstpostcommunio, the secondad populum.[1]
In both sacramentaries these two prayers form part of the normal Mass said throughout the year, though not every Mass has both; the prayers "ad populum" in the latter book are comparatively rare. They also begin to change their character. The formerly constant termstuere,protege, etc. are rarer; many are ordinarycollects with no pronounced idea of prayers for blessing and protection.[1]
In the "Gregorian Sacramentary" the second prayer, now calledSuper populum, occurs almost only fromSeptuagesima toEaster; the first,Ad complendum, continues throughout the year, but both have lost much of their original character. TheAd complendum prayer (which became the post-communion) has become a collect formed on the model of the collect at the beginning of Mass, though generally it keeps some allusion to the Communion just received. That is still the state of these prayers after the Communion.[1]
The second,Oratio super populum, is said only in ferial Masses inLent. This restriction apparently results from the shortening of the Mass (which explains many omissions and abbreviations) and the tendency of Lent to keep longer forms, such as more than twolessons. Medieval commentators[2][1] explain this mystically; Honorius thinks the prayer to be a substitute for the Eastern blessed bread (antidoron).[1]
TheOratio super populum is now always the prayer atvespers on the same day. It has been suggested that its use at Mass in Lent may be a remnant of a custom, now kept only onHoly Saturday, of singing vespers at the end of Mass. The first prayer, calledAd complendum in the "Gregorian Sacramentary", became the modern Postcommunion, now its official name. Its name was uncertain through the Middle Ages. Durandus[3][1] calls it merelyOratio novissima, using the namePostcommunio for theCommunion antiphon.[1]
The first "Roman Ordo" calls the prayerOratio ad complendum (xxi);Rupert of Deutz calls itAd complendum.[4][1] But others give it the modern name,[5][1] and so do many medievalmissals (e.g. theSarum). The Postcommunion has lost much of its original character as a thanksgiving prayer and has absorbed the idea of the oldOratio ad populum. It is now always a petition, though the note of thanksgiving is often included (e.g. in theMass Statuit, for a confessor pontiff). It has been affected by the Collect on which it is modelled, though there is generally an allusion to the Communion.[1]
Every Postcommunion (andsecret) corresponds to acollect. These are the three fundamental prayers of any given Proper Mass. The Postcommunion is said or chanted exactly like the Collect. First comes that of the Mass celebrated; then, if other Masses are commemorated, their Postcommunions follow in the same order and with the same final conclusion as the collects.[1]
After the Communion, when the celebrant has arranged the chalice, he goes to theepistle side and reads theCommunion antiphon. He then comes to the middle and says or sings "Dominus Vobiscum" ("The Lord be with you"; in the earlyMiddle Ages he did not turn to the people this time), goes back to theEpistle side, and says or sings one or more Postcommunions, exactly as the collects.[1]
At ferial Masses inLent theOratio super populum follows the last Postcommunion. The celebrant singsOremus; thedeacon turning towards the people chants:Humiliate capita vestra Deo, on do with the cadence la, do, si, si, do for the last five syllables. Meanwhile, everyone, including the celebrant, bows the head. The deacon turns towards the altar and the celebrant chants the prayer appointed in the Mass. Atlow Mass the celebrant himself says the same text and does not turn towards the people. The deacon's exclamation apparently was introduced when this prayer became a speciality of Lent (Durandus mentions it).[1]
In theMass of Paul VI, the postcommunion is known as thePrayer after Communion. It is the final presidential prayer, sung or recited audibly by the celebrant and concluded by the congregational response, "Amen".[6]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Postcommunion".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.