concelebrate

Etymology

From con- + celebrate.

Why this word is great

CONCELEBRATE — [Verb] To celebrate the Eucharist jointly with other clergy members. From Latin con- ("with") + celebrare ("to celebrate"). Unlike "celebrate" (which sprawls across secular revelries and solitary devotions) or "officiate" (which elevates a single figure above the congregation), "concelebrate" is the quiet choreography of shared sacrament. It is the synchronized raising of chalices, the murmured Latin weaving between voices, the way light falls equally on each priest’s stole—a rare glimpse of hierarchy dissolved into harmony, where even holiness must be plural.

verb

  1. To celebrate along with others“Here I could breake out into a boundleſſe race of oratory, in ſhrill trumpetting and concelebrating the royall magnificence of her gouernement, that for ſtate and ſtrict ciuill ordering, ſcant admitteth any riuals: but I feare it would be a theame diſpleaſant to the graue modeſty of the diſcreet preſent magiſtrates; and therefore conſultiuely I ouerſlip it, […]”
  2. To take part in the Eucharist as a joint celebrant.“We had been told before the service that we were invited to move up to the altar if we wanted to concelebrate.”
  3. To take part in the Eucharist as a joint celebrant.; To celebrate the Eucharist along with the bishop who ordained them.