A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

OFFICIAL. The official is the person to whom cognisance of causes is committed by such as have an ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The official of an archdeacon stands in like relation to him as the chancellor does to the bishop.

OGEE. (Ogive, French.) An inflected curve; a curve formed of two segments of a circle, one struck from one side, and the other from the other side of the same right line. This curve occurs chiefly in mouldings, and is principally characteristic of the Decorated style; but it occurs in other styles also, and has several variations according to its place and date. The word is used in French as a generic term for pointed architecture.

OPHITÆ (from ὄφις, a serpent); also called Serpentinians. A ridiculous sort of heretics, who had for their leader a man called Euphrates. They entertained almost the same fantastic opinions that were holden by the other Egyptian Gnostics concerning the æons, the eternal matter, the creation of the world in opposition to the will of God, the rulers of the seven planets that presided over this world, the tyranny of Demiurge, and also concerning Christ united to the man Jesus, in order to destroy the empire of this usurper. But besides these, they maintained the following particular tenet (whence they received the name of Ophites): “That the Serpent by which our first parents were deceived, was either Christ himself, or Sophia, [Wisdom,] concealed under the form of that animal;” and in consequence of this opinion they are said to have nourished a certain number of serpents, which they looked upon as sacred, and to which they offered a sort of worship, a subordinate kind of divine honours. There is some curious information about the Ophitæ in the lately discovered work of Hippolytus.

OPTION. An archbishop had the choice or option of any one dignity or benefice in the gift of every bishop consecrated or confirmed by him, which he may confer on his chaplain, or whom else he pleases. This was styled his option. The privilege has been relinquished by English archbishops since 1845, in consequence of a construction put on some words in the cathedral act (3 & 4 Vict. c. 113, sect. 42). “That it shall not be lawful for any spiritual person to sell or assign any patronage or presentation belonging to him by virtue of any dignity or spiritual office held by him.”

Bishop Sherlock, on his appointment to the see of London in 1749, had a dispute with Archbishop Herring as to the right of option. A compromise took place: but the bishop printed a pamphlet on the subject in 1755. It never was published, and but 50 copies were printed.—Heylin’s Life of Bishop Sherlock, prefixed to his Works, vol. i. lx.

OPUS OPERATUM. An expression frequently occurring in discussions respecting the efficacy of the sacraments, &c., importing a necessary spiritual effect flowing from the outward administration, (from the thing done,) irrespective of the moral qualities of the recipient. This doctrine is alleged as one of the corruptions of the Church of Rome, and, if carried out, would obviously equalize, in a great measure, the benefits received by the worthy and the unworthy who approach the altar, and would justify the administration of baptism to the heathen, &c., not only on consent, but by the application of physical force.

In a certain sense it is unquestionably true, that all the appointed means of grace have an effect ex opere operato, inasmuch as the act itself, though inefficacious in its own nature, is an institution of God, and consecrated by him as an instrument not to be made void at the caprice of man. Thus, the preaching of the gospel is inevitably a savour of life or of death. The administration of baptism is invariably an admission into the Church. But that the use of an appointed ordinance goes beyond this, and results in all cases in a moral effect on the individual, and in the insuring of higher portions of Divine grace ex necessitate, is contrary to the views of the Church, the doctrine of Scripture, and the preservation of man’s free agency.

ORARIUM. (See Stole.)

ORATORIO. In Church music, a musical drama, of which the subject is always sacred, and intended to be performed in a church. The origin of this kind of spiritual and musical drama, which has now run into great excesses, is found in the plan of Filippo Neri, in the early part of the sixteenth century, to arrest the attention of those to whom he preached, by procuring the execution of pieces of sacred music of more than common interest before and after his sermon. This custom, which commenced in the congregation of the Oratory, (whence the name Oratorio,) was imitated by all the societies of the same foundation, and soon became so popular, that the best masters, both in composition and in execution, were found to take a part in it. The performance in the time of Filippo Neri himself was scarcely more than a cantata, but it soon after assumed a more perfectly dramatic form, being distributed between several persons, and accompanied with action and scenic representation, so as to present much of the character of a musical mystery. (See Moralities.) In this way many sacred subjects were performed, such as Job and his friends, the Good Samaritan, and the Prodigal Son.

Oratorio derived its name from the Oratorio, or chapel in the church of St. Girolamo della Carita at Rome, where Filippo Neri’s confraternity assembles. (See Priests of the Oratory.)