Glossary of Terms
Rite 3
The nickname given to “An Order for Celebrating the Holy Eucharist” (BCP, pp. 400-405). This rite is in the form of an outline that allows the participants to prepare many of the liturgical texts that will be used in the eucharistic celebration while maintaining the same basic structure of the eucharistic liturgy that is found […]
Ritual
Liturgical texts and ceremonies of divine worship. The term originally indicated the prescribed words of worship, but it came to include the entire liturgical action and presentation of the rite. The nineteenth-century ritualist controversy in the Episcopal Church included disputes over such practices as the use of processional crosses, altar lights, eucharistic vestments, incense, genuflection […]
Ritual Controversy
See Ritualism.
Ritualism
Ritual refers to the prescribed form of words of an act of worship and also has been used to indicate the ceremonial of worship. The term “ritualism” was applied to the ceremonial enrichment of public worship by re-introducing pre-Reformation ceremonial practices into Anglicanism. These included practices at the eucharist such as the use of vestments, […]
Roanridge Training Conference Center
Wilbur Cochel, a deputy from West Missouri to the 1940 General Convention, believed that a good rural priest needed to know about farming. In 1942 he and his wife offered their 320-acre demonstration farm, twenty miles north of Kansas City, to the Episcopal Church. It was called Roanridge Farm because of the mixed red and […]
Robbins, Harold Chandler
(Dec. 11, 1876-Mar. 20, 1952). Cathedral dean, preacher, and writer. He was born in Philadelphia. Robbins received his B.A. from Yale University in 1899 and graduated from the Episcopal Theological School in 1903. He was ordained deacon on May 17, 1903, and priest on May 29, 1904. Robbins was rector of St. Paul's Church, Englewood, […]
Roberts, Owen Josephus
(May 2, 1875-May 17, 1955). First lay president of the House of Deputies, and associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was born in Philadelphia. Roberts received his B.A. in 1895 and his LL.B. in 1898, both from the University of Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1898. He was […]
Robertson, John J.
(1796-Oct. 5, 1881). Missionary to Greece. He was born in New York City. After study at the Virginia Theological Seminary, Robertson was ordained deacon on Dec. 10, 1820. He was ordained priest the next year, and then became president of Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. Robertson later became the president of Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, […]
Rochester, Diocese of
The 1931 General Convention voted to divide the Diocese of Western New York. The primary convention of the Diocese of Rochester met at Trinity Church, Geneva, New York, Dec. 15-16, 1931. The diocese includes the following counties: Allegany, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, and Yates. The diocese does not have a cathedral.
Rochet
A vestment of white linen or similar material which replaced the alb and which in time came to be used only by bishops. Early American bishops found the huge balloon sleeves difficult both to launder and to carry, so the rochet was sleeveless, and the sleeves were tacked lightly to the chimere. Styles have changed […]
Rodenmayer, Betsy
(June 11, 1909-Jan. 14, 1985). Christian educator. She was born in Detroit, Michigan. Rodenmayer received her B.A. from the University of Michigan, her M.R.E. from Columbia Teachers College, and her B.D. from Union Theological Seminary, New York. She married the Rev. Robert Rodenmayer on July 8, 1935. She was director of Christian Education, Christ Church, […]
Rogation Days
Traditionally, these are the three days before Ascension Day on which the litany is sung (or recited) in procession as an act of intercession. They originated in Vienne, France, in the fifth century when Bishop Mamertus introduced days of fasting and prayer to ward off a threatened disaster. In England they were associated with the […]
Rollo
At Cursillo, one of the fifteen talks on Christian faith and life. The person assigned to give the rollo is called a “rollista.”
Romanticism
The term is applied to an intellectual and cultural development which flourished in western Europe and North America in the late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It was largely a reaction against the Enlightenment and the neo-classicism which accompanied the Enlightenment. In place of the earlier emphasis on reason, order, and mechanism there came to be an […]
Rood Screen
The term “rood,” from Old English, means cross. Rood screens were used as early as the twelfth century to separate the chancel or choir from the nave. The rood screen was surmounted with a rood beam on which was placed a crucifix or Christus Rex. Candles and other figures such as the Virgin Mary and […]
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano
(Jan. 30, 1882-Apr. 12, 1945). Thirty-second President of the United States, 1933-1945. He was the leader of the United States in the face of the Great Depression and World War II. Roosevelt was baptized at St. James' Episcopal Church, Hyde Park, New York, and later served as senior warden of St. James'. He graduated from […]
Rosary
A Marian devotion that leads to Jesus. It combines repetitions of familiar prayers with meditation on fifteen mysteries of faith. Meditation on each mystery is accompanied by recitation of the Lord's Prayer, ten (a “decade”) Hail Marys, and the Gloria Patri. The mysteries are divided into three sets of five, which are known as chaplets. […]
Rose Gates College, Okolona, Mississippi
This school opened at Okolona, Mississippi, in 1859. Bishop William Mercer Green was president of the board of trustees. It was named after Rose Gates, the daughter of Col. Charles Gates, who bought the property. The headmaster was the Rev. William S. Lacey (d. 1867), who served until the school closed in 1862.
Rose Sunday
See Laetare Sunday; see Gaudete Sunday.
Rose Window
A circular stained glass window with radiating tracery in the form of a rose. The rose window is usually placed on the west façade of the church. This window may be quite large, dominating the west end of the nave. A rose window may also appear in the triangular ends of transepts. Undecorated circular windows […]
Glossary definitions provided courtesy of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY,(All Rights reserved) from “An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians,” Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, editors.