lectionarium

Lectionarium is a liturgical book containing the readings prescribed for public worship in Christian churches. The word derives from Latin lectionarium, from lectio “reading,” with the suffix -arium indicating a collection or repository. In practice, a lectionarium is the book that supplies the scriptural passages to be read aloud during services.

In Western Christian traditions, lectionaries organize Scripture into pericopes arranged for the liturgical year. They may be subdivided into Gospel readings (often called an evangelarium or gospel lectionary) and epistle readings (epistolarium), with some manuscripts containing both in a single volume or as separate books. A complete lectionary may cover all liturgical days and seasons, coordinating readings for Sundays, weekdays, feasts, and fasts. In the Roman Rite, the Lectionary for Mass presents the sequence of First Reading (typically Old Testament), Responsorial Psalm, Second Reading (Epistle), and Gospel for each celebration.

Historically, lectionaries appear from late antiquity through the medieval period and into early modern times as manuscript or printed books. They are an important source for the study of the biblical text’s reception in worship, as well as for understanding the practices and order of liturgical life in various Christian traditions. Today the term lectionarium is commonly used in Latin-language contexts or scholarly descriptions of such manuscripts, while English texts usually prefer lectionary; the two terms describe the same kind of liturgical compilation.

See also: Lectionary, Evangeliarium, Epistolarium, Gospel book, Pericope.