There are set hours for Catholic Prayer.
Canonical hours
Traditional Roman Breviary
By the end of the 5th century, the Liturgy of the Hours was composed of seven offices. Of these seven,
Compline seems to have been the last to appear, because the 4th century
Apostolic Constitutions VIII iv 34 do not mention it in the exhortation "Offer up your prayers in the morning, at the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, the evening, and at
cock-crowing".
[6] An eighth office,
Prime, was added by
Benedict of Nursia in the 6th century. These eight are known by the following names:
- Matins (during the night, at midnight with some); also called Vigils or Nocturns or, in monastic usage, the Night Office
- Lauds or Dawn Prayer (at Dawn, or 3 a.m.)
- Prime or Early Morning Prayer (First Hour = approximately 6 a.m.)
- Terce or Mid-Morning Prayer (Third Hour = approximately 9 a.m.)
- Sext or Midday Prayer (Sixth Hour = approximately 12 noon)
- None or Mid-Afternoon Prayer (Ninth Hour = approximately 3 p.m.)
- Vespers or Evening Prayer ("at the lighting of the lamps", generally at 6 p.m.)
- Compline or Night Prayer (before retiring, generally at 9 p.m.)
The
Liturgy of the Hours (
Latin:
Liturgia Horarum) or
Divine Office (Latin:
Officium Divinum) or
canonical hours, often referred to as the
Breviary, is the official set of daily prayers prescribed by the Catholic Church to be recited by
clergy,
religious institutes, and
laity.
[1][2] It consists primarily of
psalms supplemented by
hymns and readings. Together with the
Mass, it constitutes the official public prayer life of the Church. Upon
ordination to the Diaconate, the daily recitation of the Liturgy of the Hours becomes a canonical obligation. The Liturgy of the Hours also forms the basis of prayer within
Christian monasticism.
[3]
The Liturgy of the Hours, along with the
Eucharist, has formed part of the Church's public worship from the earliest times. Christians of both
Eastern and
Western traditions (including the
Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox,
Oriental Orthodox,
Anglican, and
Lutheran churches) celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours under various names. Within
Catholicism, the Liturgy of the Hours, once contained within what was called the
Roman Breviary, is in its present form found in what in English editions is called either
The Liturgy of the Hours (arranged in four volumes) or
The Divine Office (in three volumes).
[4] In Greek the corresponding services are found in the Ὡρολόγιον (
Horologion), meaning
Book of Hours. Within
Anglicanism, the Liturgy of the Hours is contained within the book of Daily Prayer of
Common Worship and the
Book of Common Prayer, as well as in the
Anglican Breviary. Within
Lutheranism, it is contained within the liturgical books used by the various Lutheran church bodies, such as the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The primary worship resources in these churches include
Lutheran Worship, the
Lutheran Book of Worship, and
Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Other names for the Liturgy of the Hours within the
Latin Rite include
Diurnal and Nocturnal Office,
Ecclesiastical Office,
Cursus ecclesiasticus, or simply
cursus.
[3]
The early Christians continued the Jewish practice of reciting prayers at certain hours of the day or night. In the Psalms are found expressions like "in the morning I offer you my prayer"; "At midnight I will rise and thank you" ; "Evening, morning and at noon I will cry and lament"; "Seven times a day I praise you". The
Apostles observed the Jewish custom of praying at the third, sixth and ninth hour and at midnight (Acts 10:3, 9; 16:25; etc.). The Christian prayer of that time consisted of almost the same elements as the Jewish: recital or chanting of psalms, reading of the Old Testament, to which were soon added readings of the Gospels, Acts, and epistles, and
canticles such as the
Gloria in Excelsis Deo.
Taylor Marshall has demonstrated how these Christian cycles of daily prayer derived from Jewish customs of prayer.
[5] Other elements were added later in the course of the centuries.
After the
Second Vatican Council, Pope
Paul VI promulgated a new Roman Breviary, commonly referred to as "Liturgy of the Hours." The structure of the offices, the distribution of psalms, and the prayers themselves were modified. Prime was suppressed entirely. In short, the burden was lessened. "Major" and "minor" hours were defined:
- The Officium lectionis, or Office of Readings, (formerly Matins) — major hour
- Lauds or Morning prayer — major hour
- Daytime prayer, which can be one or all of:
- Terce or Mid-Morning Prayer
- Sext or Midday Prayer
- None or Mid-Afternoon Prayer
- Vespers or Evening Prayer — major hour
- Compline or Night Prayer
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Originally Posted by aboutime
