"Offerimus" Instead of "Offero?"

[bben15]

At Mass, why does a priest say "offerimus," "we offer" instead of "offero," "I offer?" Isn't it the priest alone offering the sacrifice?

Thank you.

[Gardener]

At Mass, why does a priest say "offerimus," "we offer" instead of "offero," "I offer?" Isn't it the priest alone offering the sacrifice?

Thank you.

Yes and no.

[Daniel]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but it is my understanding that the priest alone (in persona Christi) offers Christ to the Father (as a propitiatory sacrifice).  But everyone present offers themselves/their works/their prayers/etc. to God as well (in union with Christ's sacrifice of adoration, thanksgiving, and petition).

[rbjmartin]

He says "offero" at the "Suscipe." Perhaps the "Offerimus" is a product of the solemn Mass, where the deacon assists the priest in raising the chalice being offered to God, making it a plural act. Theologically, both could be correct, if understood correctly.

[bben15]

He says "offero" at the "Suscipe." Perhaps the "Offerimus" is a product of the solemn Mass, where the deacon assists the priest in raising the chalice being offered to God, making it a plural act. Theologically, both could be correct, if understood correctly.

In the offering of the chalice, does the deacon still say the prayer with the priest, or is that abolished in the 1962 Missal?

After reading a little more on the subject, I found out that, though it is the priest alone confecting the sacrifice, the faithful along with the priest are offering it to God.

[Michael Wilson]

The Priest alone offers the Sacrifice, but he does it in the name of the whole Mystical Body of Christ, whose deputed minister he is.
P. Pius XII's Encyclical Mediator Dei:

7. Moreover, the rites and prayers of the eucharistic sacrifice signify and show no less clearly that the oblation of the Victim is made by the priests in company with the people. For not only does the sacred minister, after the oblation of the bread and wine when he turns to the people, say the significant prayer: "Pray brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Father Almighty;"[86] but also the prayers by which the divine Victim is offered to God are generally expressed in the plural number: and in these it is indicated more than once that the people also participate in this august sacrifice inasmuch as they offer the same. The following words, for example, are used: "For whom we offer, or who offer up to Thee . . . We therefore beseech thee, O Lord, to be appeased and to receive this offering of our bounded duty, as also of thy whole household. . . We thy servants, as also thy whole people . . . do offer unto thy most excellent majesty, of thine own gifts bestowed upon us, a pure victim, a holy victim, a spotless victim."[87]
92. In this most important subject it is necessary, in order to avoid giving rise to a dangerous error, that we define the exact meaning of the word "offer." The unbloody immolation at the words of consecration, when Christ is made present upon the altar in the state of a victim, is performed by the priest and by him alone, as the representative of Christ and not as the representative of the faithful. But it is because the priest places the divine victim upon the altar that he offers it to God the Father as an oblation for the glory of the Blessed Trinity and for the good of the whole Church. Now the faithful participate in the oblation, understood in this limited sense, after their own fashion and in a twofold manner, namely, because they not only offer the sacrifice by the hands of the priest, but also, to a certain extent, in union with him. It is by reason of this participation that the offering made by the people is also included in liturgical worship.
93. Now it is clear that the faithful offer the sacrifice by the hands of the priest from the fact that the minister at the altar, in offering a sacrifice in the name of all His members, represents Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body. Hence the whole Church can rightly be said to offer up the victim through Christ. But the conclusion that the people offer the sacrifice with the priest himself is not based on the fact that, being members of the Church no less than the priest himself, they perform a visible liturgical rite; for this is the privilege only of the minister who has been divinely appointed to this office: rather it is based on the fact that the people unite their hearts in praise, impetration, expiation and thanksgiving with prayers or intention of the priest, even of the High Priest himself, so that in the one and same offering of the victim and according to a visible sacerdotal rite, they may be presented to God the Father. It is obviously necessary that the external sacrificial rite should, of its very nature, signify the internal worship of the heart. Now the sacrifice of the New Law signifies that supreme worship by which the principal Offerer himself, who is Christ, and, in union with Him and through Him, all the members of the Mystical Body pay God the honor and reverence that are due to Him.

[LouisIX]

Yes, I think here the first personal singular is used to represent the entire Church and is not meant to exactly imply the priest + assisting laity.

[spasiisochrani]

Yes, I think here the first personal singular is used to represent the entire Church and is not meant to exactly imply the priest + assisting laity.

Of course, the assisting laity are also part of the Church.

[LouisIX]

Yes, I think here the first personal singular is used to represent the entire Church and is not meant to exactly imply the priest + assisting laity.

Of course, the assisting laity are also part of the Church.

Of course.

[The Harlequin King]

Here, it's worth saying that the word "liturgy" literally means "the work of the people". It's true, not just a postconciliar invention. It was once forbidden except by papal indult to celebrate Mass without at least one member of the faithful (a server) present.