Oblation, meaning an offering (Late Latin oblatio, from offerre, oblatum, to offer), is a term used, particularly in ecclesiastical usage, for a solemn offering or presentation to God.
The Latin Vulgate, and following this many English versions such as the KJV, 1611, uses the word to stand for the meal offering under the Law of Moses.
It is thus applied to certain parts of the Eucharistic service in liturgical Christianity. The rites of Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and some Lutheran churches employ an oblation: gifts of bread and wine are offered to God.
Liturgically speaking, there are two oblations: the lesser oblation, sometimes known as the offertory, in which the bread and wine, as yet unconsecrated, are presented and offered to God, and the greater oblation, the oblation proper, in which the Body and Blood of Christ are offered to God.
The word oblate is also an ecclesiastical term for persons who have devoted themselves or have been devoted as children by their parents to a monastic life. Oblate is more familiar in the Roman Catholic Church as the name of a Religious Congregation of secular or diocesan priests, the Oblate Fathers of St. Charles. They are placed under the absolute authority of the bishop of the diocese in which they are established and can be employed by him on any duties he may think fit. This congregation was founded in 1578 under the name of Oblates of the Blessed Virgin and St. Ambrose by St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan.
Oblation is legal term that describes the voluntary transfer of a legal obligation or a title to a property.
In medieval times in the Holy Roman Empire, an oblatio feudi or Lehnsauftragung meant a transfer of property, freely held by its owner, such as a castle or lordship, to another lord, in order to receive it back from that lord as a fief. In doing so, the liege lord acquired the full right of ownership.
A similar term was the oblatio litis, whereby someone took over a legal dispute as the defendant, without being the actual defendant.
Coordinates: 14°39′17″N 121°3′53″E / 14.65472°N 121.06472°E / 14.65472; 121.06472
The Oblation (Filipino: Pahinungod, Oblasyon) is a concrete statue by Filipino artist Guillermo E. Tolentino which serves as the iconic symbol of the University of the Philippines. It depicts a man facing upward with arms outstretched, symbolizing selfless offering of oneself to his country.
The idea for the Oblation was first conceived during the presidency of Rafael Palma, who was the one to commission Tolentino to make the sculpture. Palma requested that the statue would be based on the second verse of Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adios;
The concrete sculpture painted to look like bronze, measures 3.5 meters in height, symbolizing the 333 years of Spanish rule in the Philippines. The sculpture is replete with references of selfless dedication and service to the nation, and as Tolentino himself describes it;
To be drunk is to be dead
Intoxication sets in
Soul slaughter divine
Altered mind
Physical movement impaired
Ride the destructive high
Obliteration conceived
Infected live
Devoured by consumption
Body wasted, soul destroyed
Life is a festering sore
Like gangrene rotting the spirit of man