The invitatory (Latin: invitatorium; also invitatory psalm) is the psalm used to start certain daily prayer offices in Catholic and Anglican traditions. Most often it is Psalm 94(95), also known as the Venite.[n 1] The term derives from Medieval Latin invītātōrium, derived from invītāre, "to invite."[1]
Verse 17 of Psalm 50(51)Domine, labia mea aperies is often used as the invitatory antiphon in the Liturgy of the Hours.[3]
Anglican
In the Episcopal Church, the Morning Prayer office opens with an invitatory psalm, either the Venite (Psalm 95:1-7, or the entire psalm on Ash Wednesday, Holy Saturday, and all Fridays in Lent) or the Jubilate (Psalm 100). An invitatory antiphon may appear before, or before and after the invitatory psalm. The invitatory may be spoken or sung; there are several musical settings in plainsong or Anglican chant.[4]
An invitatory psalm may also be substituted for the Phos Hilaron in Evening Prayer.[4]
In Anglican prayer beads, the invitatory bead is next to the cross, most often corresponding to the opening versicle of Evening Prayer.[5]
^See Liturgy of the Hours volume 1, 2, 3, or 4;[improper synthesis?]Christian Prayer; or Shorter Christian Prayer.[vague]
^ ab"Invitatory Psalm" in Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, eds., An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians.