Bidding Prayer

Bidding Prayer (from bid, summon; see Beadle), a prayer, or more strictly an invitation to prayer, on certain specified subjects - for the welfare of the Queen and royal family, the Parliament, the magistrates, the universities, etc. - and also to thanksgiving for various temporal and spiritual blessings. There are several forms, one of which is ordered by the 55th Canon of the Anglican Church. It is used before university sermons (which usually are not preceded by a service), and occasionally in cathedrals and chapels royal. It is followed by the Lord's Prayer, in which the congregation joins. The "bidding of beads" (or prayers) was an early custom in the Church. The priest invited the prayers of the congregation on special subjects, which were said in silence.