ORA 
of officers in different departments are appointed; but in 
all public affairs he is, as it were, the mouth of the whole ; 
putting their deliberations into proper form, and com¬ 
municating or publifliing them, according to the inten¬ 
tion of the univerfity. Thus, if the whole univerfity, or 
a committee appointed by them, or by ffatute, or by the 
will of any particular benefaftor, have, after a compara¬ 
tive trial, adjudged a prize to any perfon or perfons, it is 
the bufinefs of the public orator to inform the fuccefsful 
parties of the iffue of the trial. If for Angular learning, 
or for any remarkable good will lliown to the univerfity by 
any perfon or perfons, the fenate or convocation are pleafed 
to declare their grateful fenfe of it, either by conferring 
degrees, or otherwife, as they think, fit, the public orator 
is to notify this intention to the perfon or perfons con¬ 
cerned ; and fo in other cafes. 
Another part of the public orator’s bufinefs is to prefent 
young noblemen, or thofe who take honorary degrees, 
tanquam nqbiles, to the vice-chancellor; this he does in a 
Latin fpeech, of which the fubjedlis generally a defence 
of that particular ftatute which allows the foils of noble¬ 
men, and fome few others, to proceed to degrees before 
what is called the Jlatiitable time. In doing this, enco¬ 
miums, often ftrongerthan juft, are made upon the learn¬ 
ing and virtue of the noble candidate ; a view is taken of 
the dignity of his ancient houfe ; the honour is men¬ 
tioned which has accrued to the univerfity from the ac- 
ceffion of fuch a member; and the oration concludes with 
promifing great credit from his future conduft, as well as 
benefit from the influence of his rank in the ftate. Thefe 
circumftances are deemed fufficient grounds for exempt¬ 
ing the fons of noblemen from that tedious courfe of 
ftudy, through which the duller fons of commoners mull 
all pafs before they are thought worthy of academical 
honours. 
ORATO'RIAL, or Oratorious, adj. Rhetorical; 
befitting an orator.—What errouris fo rotten and putrid, 
which fome oratorious varnilh hath not fought to colour 
over with fiiews of truth and piety ? Bp. Taylor's Artif. 
Handfom. —He [Dr. Bathqrft] endeavoured, at the com¬ 
mand of the king, to introduce a more graceful and ora- 
torial manner of delivering the public fermons at St. 
Mary’s. Warton’s Life of Balhurfl. 
ORATO'RIALLY, or Oratoriously, adv. In a rhe¬ 
torical manner.—Nor do they oppofe things of this nature 
argumentatively, fo much as oralorioujly. Bp. Taylor. 
ORATO'RIAN,/ in church-hiftory, an order of re¬ 
gular priefts, fo called from the place where they met to¬ 
gether to pray. 
ORATOR'lCAL, adj. Rhetorical; befitting an orator. 
—Where he fpeaks in an oratorical, affedling, or perfua- 
five, way, let this be explained by other places where he 
treats of the fame theme in a dottrinal way. Walts. 
ORATO'RIO, f. [Italian.] A kind of facred drama, 
the fubjedt of it being generally taken from the Scriptures, 
fet to rnufic.—Sorry I am to accufe the greateft Englifh 
compofer, Purcel, and the bell adopted one, Handel, of 
being the caufe of this innovation, [the mixture of the 
violin with the organ :] the former by adding violin ac¬ 
companiments to fome of his anthems and fervices ; the 
latter by eredling an organ on the play-houfe ftage, with 
a view undoubtedly to difference as much by its dignified 
form, as by its folemn tones, that femi-dramatic lpecies 
of compofition the oratorio from a genuine opera. Mafon 
on Church-Alujic. 
Menellrier attributes the origin of oratorios to the cru- 
fades; and fays that the pilgrims returning from Jerufalem 
and the Holy Land, &c. compofed fongs reciting the life 
and death of the Son of God, and the mylleries of the 
Chriltian faith, and celebrating the achievements and 
conllancy of faints and martyrs. But others, with more 
probability, obferve, that the oratorio was an avou'ed imi¬ 
tation of the opera, with only this difference, that the 
foundation of it was always fome religious, or at leaft fome 
moral, theme; and all the Italian writers on the fubjedl 
ORA 
683 
agree, that thefe facred mufical dramas had their begin¬ 
ning in the time of San Filippo Neri, who was born 1515, 
and founded the congregation'of the Priefts of the Ora¬ 
tory at Rome in 1540. This faint, who died 1595, is 
numbered among Italian improvifatori, by Quadrio, (tom. 
i. p. 163.) He was originally intended for a merchant, 
but was drawn from commercial purfuits by vocation. 
Oratorio, Ital. oratorium, Lat. implies a fmall chapel, 
or particular part of a houfe or church where there is an 
altar. The fpaces between the arches of Romifti churches 
are called oratorii, q. d. chapels. The Congregation of 
the Oratory, eftablifhed at Rome, and in fome other cities 
of Italy, by Neri, about 1558, originated from the con¬ 
ferences which this pious ecclefiaftic held in his own cham¬ 
ber at Rome. The great number of perfons who attended 
thefe meetings obliged Neri to requeft the adminiftrators 
of the church of San Girolamo della Carita to grant per- 
miflion to hold thefe aftemblies there. In 1574 they were 
transferred to the church of the Florentines; and in 1583 
to Santa Maria della Vallicella. By degrees this ella- 
bliftiment fpread itfelf all over Italy, where it has ftill 
many houfes. The members are bound by no vow. Did. 
des Cultes Relig. 
It appears that thefe fathers, in whatever city of Italy 
they had an eftablifhment, entertained their congregations 
with good rnufic. During the fervice, and after fermon, 
it was ufual for them, among other pious exercifes, in 
order to draw youth to church, and keep them from fe- 
cular amufements, to have hymns, pffdms, and other fpi- 
ritual laudi, or fongs, fung either in chorus, or by a Angle 
favourite voice, divided into two parts, the one performed 
before the fermon, and the other after it. But, though 
this devout pradlice was begun in fo Ample a manner, 
with only fpiritual cantatas, or fongs, on moral fubje&s; 
in order to render the fervice ftill more attractive, fome 
facred llory or event from fcripture was written in verfe, 
and fet by the bell poets or muficians of the times. Thefe 
being compofed in dialogue, and rendered interefting to 
the congregation, fuch curiofity was excited by the per¬ 
formance of the firft part, that there was no danger dur¬ 
ing the fertnon that any of the hearers would retire be¬ 
fore they had heard the fecond. The fubjefts of thefe 
pieces were fometimes the Good Samaritan ; fometimesjob 
and his friends; the Prodigal Son ; Tobit with the Angel, 
his father and his wife, &c. And thefe, by the excellence 
of the compofition, the band of inftruments, and the per¬ 
formance, brought this oratory into fuch repute, that the 
congregations became daily more and more numerous; 
and hence this fpecies of facred mufical drama, wherever 
performed, in procefs of time, obtained the general appel¬ 
lation of oratorio. 
In the church of San Girolamo della Carita at Rome, 
oratorios are ftill conftantly performed on Sundays and 
feftivals from All Saints Day till Palm Sunday; as well as 
in the church of La Vallicella, or La Chiefa Nuova, where 
they are likewife performed from the firft of November 
till Eafter. Thefe are the two churches in which, as we 
have feen, fuch religious fpedlacles had their beginning; 
but the pradlice has iince been fo much extended to the 
other churches of Rome, that there is not a day in the 
year on which one or more of thefe performances may not 
be heard ; and, as lifts of oratorios, and other funzioni, to 
be performed in the feveral churches in the courfe of the 
year, are publilhed, like our lifts of Lent-preachers, great 
emulation is excited in the directors and performers, as 
well as curiofity in the public. The firft collection of the 
words of hymns and pfalms, fung in the chapel of San 
Filippo Neri, was publifhed at Rome 1585, under the title 
of Laudi fpirituali, ftampate ad iftanza de’ R R. P. P. della 
Congregatione dell’ Oratorio. The fecond in 1603 ; Laudi 
Spirituali di diverfi, folite cantarfi dopo Sennoni da’ P P. 
della Cong, dell’ Oratorio : among thefe were dialogues 
in a dramatic form. Crefcimheni, Introd. all’ IJlor. della 
Volg. Poefa, lib. iv. Venuti, Roma moderna, 17 66. Did. 
des Cultes Religieux i . 
The 
