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TheLiturgy of the Hours (Latin:Liturgia Horarum),Divine Office (Latin:Divinum Officium),[1] orOpus Dei ("Work of God") is a set ofCatholic prayers comprising thecanonical hours,[a] often also referred to as thebreviary,[b] of theLatin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official set of prayers "marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer."[5] The term "Liturgy of the Hours" has been retroactively applied to the practices of saying the canonical hours in both theChristian East andWest–particularly within theLatin liturgical rites–prior to theSecond Vatican Council,[6] and is the official term for the canonical hours promulgated for usage by the Latin Church in 1971.[7] Before 1971, the official form for the Latin Church was theBreviarium Romanum, first published in 1568 with major editions through 1962.
The Liturgy of the Hours, like many other forms of the canonical hours, consists primarily ofpsalms supplemented byhymns, readings, and other prayers andantiphons prayed atfixed prayer times.[8] Together with theMass, it constitutes the public prayer of the church. Christians of bothWestern andEastern traditions (including theLatin Catholic,Eastern Catholic,Eastern Orthodox,Oriental Orthodox,Assyrian,Lutheran,Anglican, and some other Protestant churches) celebrate the canonical hours in various forms and under various names. The chant or recitation of the Divine Office therefore forms the basis of prayer within theconsecrated life, with some of themonastic ormendicant orders producing their own permutations of the Liturgy of the Hours and older Roman Breviary.[3]
Prayer of the Divine Office is an obligation undertaken by priests and deacons intending to become priests, while deacons intending to remain deacons are obliged to recite only a part.[9][10] The constitutions ofreligious institutes generally oblige their members to celebrate at least parts and in some cases to do so jointly ("in choir").[11]Consecrated virgins take the duty to celebrate the liturgy of hours with the rite of consecration.[12] Within the Latin Church, thelay faithful "are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually", though there is no obligation for them to do so. The laity may oblige themselves to pray the Liturgy of the Hours or part of it by a personal vow.[13]
The present official form of the entire Liturgy of the Hours of the Roman Rite is that contained in the four-volume Latin-language publicationLiturgia Horarum, the first edition of which appeared in 1971. English and other vernacular translations were soon produced and were made official for their territories by the competentepiscopal conferences. For Catholics in primarilyCommonwealth nations, the three-volumeDivine Office, which uses a range of different English Bibles for the readings from Scripture, was published in 1974. The four-volumeLiturgy of the Hours, with Scripture readings from theNew American Bible, appeared in 1975 with approval from theUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops.[14] The 1989 English translation of theCeremonial of Bishops includes in Part III instructions on the Liturgy of the Hours which the bishop presides, for example the vesper on major solemnities.[15]
The General Instruction of the Liturgy of Hours in the Roman Rite states: "The public and communal prayer of the people of God is rightly considered among the first duties of the Church. From the very beginning the baptized 'remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers' (Acts 2 :42). Many times the Acts of the Apostles testifies that the Christian community prayed together. The testimony of the early Church shows that individual faithful also devoted themselves to prayer at certain hours. In various areas the practice soon gained ground of devoting special times to prayer in common."[7]
Early Christians were in fact continuing the Jewish practice of reciting prayers at certain hours of the day or night. In thePsalms are found expressions like "in the morning I offer you my prayer";[16] "At midnight I will rise and thank you";[17] "Evening, morning and at noon I will cry and lament"; "Seven times a day I praise you". TheApostles observed the Jewish custom of praying at the third, sixth, and ninth hours, and at midnight (Acts 10:3, 9; 16:25; etc.).[18] Hence the practice ofseven fixed prayer times has been taught from the time of the early Church; inApostolic Tradition,Hippolytus instructed Christians to pray seven times a day "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion."[19][20][21][22]
The Christian prayer of that time consisted of almost the same elements as the Jewish: recital or chanting of psalms and reading of the Old Testament, to which were soon added readings of the Gospels, Acts, and epistles, andcanticles.[23] Other elements were added later in the course of the centuries.
In Roman cities, thebell in theforum rang the beginning of the business day at about six o'clock in the morning (Prime, the "first hour"), noted the day's progress by striking again at about nine o'clock in the morning (Terce, the "third hour"), tolled for the lunch break at noon (Sext, the "sixth hour"), called the people back to work again at about three o'clock in the afternoon (None, the "ninth hour"), and rang the close of the business day at about six o'clock in the evening (the time for evening prayer).[citation needed]
The healing of the crippled man at the temple gate occurred asPeter andJohn were going to the temple to pray (Acts 3:1) at the "ninth hour" of prayer (about three pm). The decision to includeGentiles among the community of believers, arose from a vision Peter had while praying at noontime, (Acts 10:9–49) the "sixth hour".
The early church was known to pray the Psalms (Acts 4:23–30), which have remained a part of the canonical hours. By 60 AD, theDidache recommended disciples to pray the Lord's Prayer three times a day; this practice found its way into the canonical hours as well.Pliny the Younger (63 –c. 113), mentions not only fixed times of prayer by believers, but also specific services – other than the Eucharist – assigned to those times: "they met on a stated day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity, … after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal."[24]
By the second and third centuries, suchChurch Fathers asClement of Alexandria,Origen, andTertullian wrote of the practice of Morning and Evening Prayer, and of the prayers at terce, sext, and none. Daily morning and evening prayer preceded daily Mass, for the Mass was first limited to Sundays and then gradually spread to some feast days. The daily prayer kept alive the theme of gratitude from the Sunday "Eucharist" (which means gratitude).[25] The prayers could be prayed individually or in groups. By the third century, the Desert Fathers began to live out Paul's command to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) by having one group of monks pray one fixed-hour prayer while having another group pray the next prayer.[citation needed]
As the format of unbroken fixed-hour prayer developed in theChristian monastic communities in the East and West, longer prayers soon grew, but the cycle of prayer became the norm in daily life inmonasteries. By the fourth century, the characteristics of the canonical hours more or less took their present shape. For secular (non-monastic) clergymen and lay people, the fixed-hour prayers were by necessity much shorter. In many churches and basilicas staffed by monks, the form of the fixed-hour prayers was a hybrid of secular and monastic practice.[citation needed]
In the East, the development of the Divine Services shifted from the area around Jerusalem toConstantinople. In particular,Theodore the Studite (c. 758 – c. 826) combined a number of influences from the Byzantine court ritual with monastic practices common inAsia Minor, and added thereto a number of hymns composed by himself and his brother Joseph (seeTypicon for further details).
In the West, theRule of Saint Benedict modeled his guidelines for the prayers on the customs of thebasilicas ofRome. It was he who expounded the concept in Christian prayer of the inseparability of the spiritual life from the physical life. TheBenedictines began to call the prayers theOpus Dei or "Work of God."
As the Divine Office grew more important in the life of the church, the rituals became more elaborate. Soon, praying the Office began to require various books, such as apsalter for the psalms, a lectionary to find the assigned scripture reading for the day, aBible to proclaim the reading, ahymnal for singing, etc. Asparishes grew in the Middle Ages away fromcathedrals and basilicas, a more concise way of arranging the hours was needed. So, a sort of list developed called theBreviary, which gave the format of the daily office and the texts to be used.
The spread of breviaries eventually reached Rome, where Pope Innocent III extended its use to the Roman Curia. TheFranciscans sought a one-volume breviary for its friars to use during travels, so the order adopted theBreviarium Curiae, but substituting theGallican Psalter for the Roman. The Franciscans gradually spread this breviary throughout Europe.Pope Nicholas III would then adopt the widely used Franciscan breviary to be the breviary used in Rome. By the 14th century, the breviary contained the entire text of the canonical hours.
TheCouncil of Trent, at its final session on 4 December 1563, entrusted the reform of the breviary to the then pope,Pius IV.[26] On 9 July 1568,Pope Pius V, the successor to Pius IV who closed the Council of Trent, promulgated an edition, known as the Roman Breviary, with hisApostolic ConstitutionQuod a nobis, imposing it in the same way in which, two years later, he imposed his Roman Missal and using language very similar to that in the bullQuo primum with which he promulgated the Missal.[27]
With the same bull, Pius V ordered the general abolition of all breviaries other than his reformed breviary, with the same exception that he was to make in hisQuo primum bull: he allowed those legitimately in use for at least 200 years to continue.[28] Examples of such breviaries are theBenedictine (Breviarium Monasticum),[29] theCarmelite,[30] theCarthusian,[31] theDominican,[32] thePremonstratensian,[33] and theAmbrosian.[34]
St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, along with the four churches under its jurisdiction, retained its own unique liturgies, psalms, and Latin translations into the 19th century. Many other churches whose local rites predated Pius V's breviary by 200 years or more, such as that of Mantua, continued to use their own breviaries, liturgical calendars, and psalms, as well.[35]
Later popes altered the Roman Breviary of Pope Pius V. Pope Clement VIII instituted obligatory changes on 10 May 1602, 34 years after Pius V's revision.Pope Urban VIII made further changes, including "a profound alteration in the character of some of the hymns. Although some of them without doubt gained in literary style, nevertheless, to the regret of many, they also lost something of their old charm of simplicity and fervour."[36]
Pope Pius X made a radical revision of the Roman Breviary, to be put into effect, at latest, on 1 January 1913. SeeReform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X.
Pope Pius XII allowed the use of a new translation of the Psalms from the Hebrew and established a special commission to study a general revision, concerning which all the Catholic bishops were consulted in 1955. His successor,Pope John XXIII, implemented these revisions in 1960.
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Following the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church's Latin Church, hoping to restore their character as the prayer of the entire church, revised the liturgical book for the celebration of the Divine Office, and published it under the title "Liturgy of the Hours".
The Council itself abolished the office ofPrime,[37] and envisioned a manner of distributing the psalms over a period of more than one week.[38] In the succeeding revision, the character of Matins was changed to an Office of Readings so that it could be used at any time of the day as an office of Scriptural and patristic readings. Furthermore, the period over which the Psalter is recited has been expanded from one week to four. The Latin hymns of the Roman Office were in many cases restored to the pre-Urban form, albeit several of them were shortened.
ThisLiturgy of the Hours (Liturgia Horarum in Latin) is published byLibreria Editrice Vaticana in four volumes, arranged according to the liturgical seasons of the church year.
The liturgical books for the celebration of theLiturgy of the Hours in Latin are those of theeditio typica altera (second typical edition) promulgated in 1985 and re-issued by the Vatican Publishing House –Libreria Editrice Vaticana – in 2000 and 2003.
Midwest Theological Forum has published an editioniuxta typicam with updating of the celebration of saints. It is arranged in six volumes:
Although most priests and other clerics in the Latin Church now use the Roman breviary, some (such as those in thePriestly Fraternity of Saint Peter or similar societies) continue to use the breviary as revised byPope Pius X, the latest edition of which was issued underPope John XXIII. Themotu proprioSummorum Pontificum in 2007 authorized everyLatin Church cleric to use this edition to fulfill his canonical obligation to pray the Divine Office. An English/Latin parallel edition was published byBaronius Press in April 2012.
Three English translations are in use:
The Divine Office was produced by a commission set up by the Episcopal Conferences of Australia, England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland. First published in 1974 byHarperCollins, this edition is the official English edition for use in the dioceses of the above countries as well as many other dioceses around the world, especially in Asian and African countries. It is arranged in three volumes:
The psalms are taken (with slight adaptations) from the 1963 Grail Psalms, while the Scripture readings and non-Gospel canticles are taken from various versions of the Bible, including theRevised Standard Version, theJerusalem Bible, theGood News Bible, theNew English Bible and RonaldKnox's Translation of the Vulgate. Some of the canticles taken from the Revised Standard Version were amended slightly to conform the English text to the Vulgate inThe Divine Office. The intercessions, concluding prayers, antiphons, short responses, responsories, second readings in the Office of Readings, the Te Deum and theGlory be to the Father are all translations approved by the episcopal conferences mentioned and confirmed by the Holy See in December 1973. The Gospel canticles (Benedictus,Magnificat,Nunc Dimittis) are from the 1963 Grail Translation, but an appendix at the end of the book gives theEnglish Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC)) versions of the Gospel canticles as alternatives.[39]
Collins also publishes shorter editions ofThe Divine Office:
Between 2005 and 2006, Collins republishedThe Divine Office and its various shorter editions with a new cover and revised Calendar of the Movable Feasts.
Besides these shorter editions ofThe Divine Office, there used to beA Shorter Prayer During the Day comprising the Psalter for the Middle Hours also published by Collins. The last known reprint year is 1986, but this edition is now out of print. In 2009,Prayer during the day was published byCatholic Truth Society.
TheLiturgy of the Hours, produced by theInternational Commission on English in the Liturgy, was first published in 1975 by Catholic Book Publishing Company in the USA. This edition is the official English edition for use in the US, Canada and some other English-speaking dioceses. It is in four volumes, an arrangement identical to the original Latin typical edition.
The psalms are taken (slightly adapted) from the 1963Grail Psalms, while the Scripture readings and non-Gospel canticles are taken from the original 1970 first editionNew American Bible. The prayers and intercessions are translated by the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL). The ELLC versions are used for items such as the Gospel canticles. An additional feature are psalm-prayers at the end of many Psalms, which were ICEL's translation of theLiber Orationum Psalmographus, the Book of Psalm-Prayers which originated in theMozarabic Rite.
Shorter editions of theLiturgy of the Hours are also available from various publishers:Christian Prayer (Daughters of St Paul and Catholic Book Publishing Company),Shorter Christian Prayer (Catholic Book Publishing Company) andDaytime Prayer (Catholic Book Publishing Company). In 2007, Liturgy Training Publications released theMundelein Psalter, containing Morning, Evening and Night Prayers and the Office for the Dead, with the 1963 Grail translation of the Psalms set to specially composed chant, and with hymns translated from the hymns of the LatinLiturgia Horarum.
TheDivine Office and theLiturgy of the Hours editions are both based on the Latin 1971 editio typica.
In 2009, on the occasion of the Synod of African Bishops in Rome, the Catholic Church in Africa, through Paulines Publications Africa, published a new English edition of the Liturgy of the Hours based on theLiturgia Horarum, editio typica altera. The antiphons and orations in this edition are taken from ICEL's 1975 translation of the Liturgy of the Hours, with independent translations for the offices for the new saints added to the General Roman Calendar as well as theBenedictus andMagnificat antiphons for the 3-year cycle on Sundays added in theLiturgia Horarum, editio typica altera.
The Psalms are taken from theRevised Grail Psalter with the rest of the biblical texts taken from theNew American Bible. This is the only official English edition of the Office that is based on theLiturgia Horarum, editio typica altera.
By the time ofBenedict of Nursia (480–548 AD), the monastic Divine Office was composed of seven daytime hours and one at night. In hisRule of St. Benedict, he associated the practice with Psalm 118/119:164, "Seven times a day I praise you", and Psalm 118/119:62, "At midnight I rise to praise you".[40] Of these eight hours,Prime andCompline may be the latest to appear, because the 4th-centuryApostolic Constitutions VIII iv 34 do not mention them in the exhortation "Offer up your prayers in the morning, at the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, the evening, and at cock-crowing".[41] The eight are known by the following names, which do not reflect the times of day at which in the second millennium they have traditionally been recited, as shown by the use of the word "noon", derived fromLatin(hora) nona,[42][43] to mean midday, not 3 in the afternoon:
This arrangement of the Divine Office is described by Benedict. However, it is found inJohn Cassian'sTwelve books on the institutes of thecoenobia and the remedies for the eight principal faults, which describe themonastic practices of theDesert Fathers of Egypt.[44]
After theSecond Vatican Council (1962 to 1965), which decided that the hour of prime should be suppressed,[45]Pope Paul VI decreed a new arrangement of the Liturgy of the Hours.[46] The structure of the offices, the distribution of psalms, and the prayers were updated. The distinction, already expressed in the 1960Code of Rubrics,[47] between the three major hours (Matins, Lauds and Vespers) and theminor hours (Terce, Sext, None and Compline) has been retained.[48]
All hours, including the minor hours, start with theversicle from Ps 70 (69) v. 2[49] (as do all offices in the traditionalbreviary except Matins and Compline): V.Deus, in adiutorium meum intende; R.Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina ("O God, come to my aid: O Lord, make haste to help me"), followed by thedoxology. The verse is omitted if the hour begins with the Invitatory (Morning Prayer/Lauds or the Office of Reading). TheInvitatory is the introduction to the first hour said on the current day, whether it be the Office of Readings or Morning Prayer.
The opening is followed by ahymn. The hymn is followed bypsalmody. The psalmody is followed by a scripture reading. The reading is called a chapter(capitulum) if it is short, or a lesson(lectio) if it is long.
The reading is followed by a versicle. The hour is closed by an oration followed by a concluding versicle. Other components are included depending on the exact type of hour being celebrated. In each office, the psalms and canticle are framed byantiphons, and each concludes with thedoxology.
The major hours are the Office of Readings, Lauds and Vespers.The Office of Readings consists of:
The character of Lauds is that of praise and dignifying the morning; of Vespers that of thanksgiving. Both follow a similar format:
The daytime hours follow a simpler format, like a very compact form of the Office of Readings:
Compline has the character of preparing the soul for its passage to eternal life:
In addition to the distribution of almost the whole Psalter over a four-week cycle, the church also provides appropriate hymns, readings, psalms, canticles and antiphons, for use in marking specific celebrations in theRoman Calendar, which sets out the order for theliturgical year. These selections are found in the 'Proper of Seasons' (forAdvent,Christmas,Lent andEaster), and the 'Proper of Saints' (forfeast days of the Saints).
Theinvitatory precedes thecanonical hours of the day beginning with the versicle "Lord, open my lips. And my mouth will proclaim your praise" (Ps 50/51 v.17), and continuing with an antiphon and the Invitatory Psalm, usually Psalm 94/95.
All psalms and canticles are accompanied by antiphons.
Unless the invitatory is used, each hour begins with the versicle "O God, come to our aid: O Lord, make haste to help us" (Ps 69/70 v.2) The "Glory be to the Father" follows.[53]
Matins or the Office of Readings is the longest hour. Before thereform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X, Matins involved the recitation of 18 psalms on Sundays and 12 onferial days. Pope Pius X reduced this to nine psalms or portions of psalms, still arranged in threenocturns, each set of three psalms followed by three readings, usually three consecutive sections from the same text. PopePaul VI's reform reduced the number of psalms or portions of psalms to three, and the readings to two, but lengthened these. On Sundays outside of Lent, during the octaves of Easter and Christmas, on solemnities and feasts, theTe Deum is sung after the second reading with its responsory.
After Pius X's reform, Lauds was reduced to four psalms or portions of psalms and an Old Testament canticle, putting an end to the custom of adding the last three psalms of the Psalter (148–150) at the end of Lauds every day. The number of psalms or portions of psalms is now reduced to two, together with one Old Testament canticle chosen from a wider range than before. After these there is a short reading and response and the singing or recitation of theBenedictus.
Vespers has a very similar structure, differing in that Pius X assigned to it five psalms (now reduced to two psalms and a New Testament canticle) and theMagnificat took the place of theBenedictus. On some days in Pius X's arrangement, but now always, there followPreces or intercessions. In the present arrangement, the Lord's Prayer is also recited before the concluding prayer.
Terce, Sext and None have an identical structure, each with three psalms or portions of psalms. These are followed by a short reading from Scripture, once referred to as a "little chapter"(capitulum), and by a versicle and response. The Lesser Litany (Kyrie and the Lord's Prayer) of Pius X's arrangement have now been omitted.
Prime and Compline also were of similar structure, though different from Terce, Sext and None.
Following the establishment of thepersonal ordinariates for formerAnglicans in the 2009apostolic constitutionAnglicanorum coetibus, there was sought anAnglican Use form of the Office that reflects Anglican tradition. In thePersonal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham inEngland andWales, theCustomary of Our Lady of Walsingham was adopted.[54]
In 2020, theDivine Worship: Daily Office was announced as the new Divine Office of the Anglican Use personal ordinariates. There are two editions: theNorth American Edition released in late 2020 for use by thePersonal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter and theCommonwealth Edition to be released in 2021 to replace the Customary in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and introduce an office for thePersonal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia, Japan, and Oceania. While developed primarily from the Anglican tradition, the Divine Worship: Daily Office is considered to be a specific use of the Liturgy of the Hours.[55]
In monasteries and cathedrals, celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours became more elaborate. Served by monks or canons, regular celebration required a Psalter for the psalms, alectionary for the Scripture readings, other books for patristic and hagiographical readings, a collectary for the orations, and also books such as the antiphonary and the responsoriary for the various chants. These were usually of large size, to enable several monks to chant together from the same book. Smaller books called breviaries (a word that etymologically refers to a compendium or abridgment) were developed to indicate the format of the daily office and assist in identifying the texts to be chosen.
These developed into books that gave in abbreviated form (because they omitted the chants) and in small lettering the whole of the texts, and so could be carried when travelling.Pope Innocent III made them official in theRoman Curia, and the itinerantFranciscanfriars adopted theBreviarium Curiae and soon spread its use throughout Europe. By the 14th century, these breviaries contained the entire text of the canonical hours. The invention of printing made it possible to produce them in great numbers.
In its final session, theCouncil of Trent entrusted to the Pope the revision of the breviary.[56] With hisApostolic ConstitutionQuod a nobis of 9 July 1568,Pope Pius V promulgated an edition of the breviary, known as theRoman Breviary, which he imposed in the same way in which, two years later, he imposed hisRoman Missal. Using language very similar to that in the bullQuo primum, with which he promulgated the Missal – regarding, for instance, the perpetual force of its provisions – he made it obligatory to use the promulgated text everywhere.[57][better source needed]
He prohibited adding or omitting anything: "We direct that printed copies of this same edict signed by a notary public and made official by an ecclesiastical dignitary possess the same indubitable validity everywhere and in every nation, as if Our manuscript were shown there. Therefore, no one whosoever is permitted to alter this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, indult, declaration, will, decree, and prohibition. Would anyone, however, presume to commit such an act, he should know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul."[58]
Pope Clement VIII made changes that he made obligatory on 10 May 1602, 34 years after Pius V's revision. Urban VIII made further changes, including "a profound alteration in the character of some of the hymns. Although some of them without doubt gained in literary style, nevertheless, to the regret of many, they also lost something of their old charm of simplicity and fervour."[36] For the profound revision of the book byPope Pius X seeReform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X.
Finally, a new revision was made byPope Paul VI with his Apostolic ConstitutionLaudis Canticum of 1 November 1970.[59]
Many of the complicated rubrics (or instructions) that governed recitation of the Liturgy were clarified, and the actual method of praying the office was made simpler. Prime had already been abolished by the Second Vatican Council. Of the three intermediate Hours of Terce, Sext and None, only one was to be of strict obligation. Recitation of the psalms and a much increased number of canticles was spread over four weeks instead of one. By a personal decision of Pope Paul VI against the majority view of the revising commission,[60] threeimprecatory psalms (58, 83, and 109) were omitted from the psalter and some similar verses were omitted from other psalms, as indicated in the heading of each. These omissions, lamented by Joseph Briody,[61] are attributed in theGeneral Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours of 1971 to "certain psychological difficulties, even though the imprecatory psalms themselves may be found quoted in the New Testament, e.g.Rev 6:10, and in no way are intended to be used as curses".[62]
Two typical editions of the revisedLiturgy of the Hours (Liturgia Horarum) according to the Roman Rite have been published by Rome. The current typical edition is theLiturgia Horarum, editio typica altera, promulgated in 1985 (printed between 1985 and 1987, and reprinted in 2000). This uses theNew Vulgate Latin Bible for the readings, psalms and canticles rather than theClementina.
It has changed the text of some of the readings and responsories in line with the New Vulgate, and it provides theBenedictus andMagnificat on each Sunday with three antiphons that reflect the three-year cycle of Gospel readings. Pope Urban VIII's lamented alterations of the hymns are undone. Verse numberings are added to the Psalms and the longer Scripture readings, while the Psalms are given both theSeptuagint numbering and (in parentheses) that of theMasoretic Text. New texts, taken from theMissale Romanum, have been added in an appendix for solemn blessings and the penitential acts.
Thus far, this second Latin typical edition has only been translated in the "Liturgy of the Hours for Africa". The earlier edition has appeared in two English translations, one under the title "Liturgy of the Hours", the other as "The Divine Office".
TheGeneral Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours is the official Papal document regulating the praying and ceremony of the Liturgy of the Hours. It was first promulgated in 1971.
In theLatin Church of theCatholic Church, bishops, priests, and deacons planning to become priests are obliged to recite the full sequence of the hours each day, observing as closely as possible the associated times of day, and using the text of the approved liturgical books that apply to them.[7][63]Permanent deacons are to do so to the extent determined by theirepiscopal conference.[63] Members ofinstitutes of consecrated life,societies of apostolic life, or otherreligious associations (e.g., Benedictineoblates,Third Order Dominicans) who are notclerics and are therefore not necessarily subject to these obligations are bound according to the norm of their constitutions.[64] Members of such institutes and societies who are deacons, priests, or bishops remain bound to their more severe obligation as clergy.
Latin Church clerics can lawfully fulfill their obligation to pray the Office using the edition of theRoman Breviary promulgated byJohn XXIII in 1961 rather than the current edition of the Liturgy of the Hours.[65] While the 2007 motu proprioSummorum Pontificum states that communities belonging to institutes of religious life and societies of apostolic life require authorization only by their major superiors to use the 1962 edition of theRoman Missal for their conventual or communityMass frequently, habitually or permanently;[66] it makes no such statement regarding use of the 1962 Roman Breviary, which could be allowed by their constitutions.
Lay people, are strongly encouraged to participate. The Second Vatican Council envisaged that the faithful would pray the Divine Office "together with the priest".[11]: 84
The constitutions of some institutes of consecrated life, in particular many congregations ofBenedictine monks and nuns but also others, oblige them to follow an arrangement of thePsalter whereby all the psalms are recited in the course of a single week.
The Liturgy of the Hours, also called the Divine Hours or the Divine Office, is the historical Christian practice of fixed times throughout the day for prayer. … By the middle of the third century, Christian leaders such as Clement, Origin, Tertullian, and Cyprian made references to the importance of intervals of prayer throughout the day. They based this practice on biblical passages such as Daniel 6, the Markkan references to the hours of the events that took place on the day of Christ's crucifixion, and the Pauline exhortations to pray without ceasing. In theApostolic Tradition (c. 215), attributed to Hippolytus, believers were exhorted to pray as soon as they rose from their beds and, if possible, to participate in this with the local church. This prayer time became known as matins or lauds. Believers were to further pray at the third, sixth, and ninth hours of the day (the "little hours"); in the evening (vespers); when they went to bed; at midnight; and once again as the cock crowed. These time frames roughly represent what was to become the long-standing Christian tradition of the liturgical horarium.
Peterson quotes a passage from theActs of Hipparchus and Philotheus: "In Hipparchus's house there was a specially decorated room and a cross was painted on the east wall of it. There before the image of the cross, they used to pray seven times a day … with their faces turned to the east." It is easy to see the importance of this passage when you compare it with what Origen says. The custom of turning towards the rising sun when praying had been replaced by the habit of turning towards the east wall. This we find in Origen. From the other passage we see that a cross had been painted on the wall to show which was the east. Hence the origin of the practice of hanging crucifixes on the walls of the private rooms in Christian houses. We know too that signs were put up in the Jewish synagogues to show the direction of Jerusalem, because the Jews turned that way when they said their prayers. The question of the proper way to face for prayer has always been of great importance in the East. It is worth remembering that Mohammedans pray with their faces turned towards Mecca and that one reason for the condemnation of Al Hallaj, the Mohammedan martyr, was that he refused to conform to this practice.
Hippolytus in theApostolic Tradition directed that Christians should pray seven times a day - on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight, and also, if at home, at the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion. Prayers at the third, sixth, and ninth hours are similarly mentioned by Tertullian, Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen, and must have been very widely practised. These prayers were commonly associated with private Bible reading in the family.
Clement of Alexandria noted that "some fix hours for prayer, such as the third, sixth and ninth" (Stromata 7:7). Tertullian commends these hours, because of their importance (see below) in the New Testament and because their number recalls the Trinity (De Oratione 25). These hours indeed appear as designated for prayer from the earliest days of the church. Peter prayed at the sixth hour, i.e. at noon (Acts 10:9). The ninth hour is called the "hour of prayer" (Acts 3:1). This was the hour when Cornelius prayed even as a "God-fearer" attached to the Jewish community, i.e. before his conversion to Christianity. it was also the hour of Jesus' final prayer (Matt. 27:46, Mark 15:34, Luke 22:44-46).
Not only the content of early Christian prayer was rooted in Jewish tradition; its daily structure too initially followed a Jewish pattern, with prayer times in the early morning, at noon and in the evening. Later (in the course of the second century), this pattern combined with another one; namely prayer times in the evening, at midnight and in the morning. As a result seven 'hours of prayer' emerged, which later became the monastic 'hours' and are still treated as 'standard' prayer times in many churches today. They are roughly equivalent to midnight, 6 a.m., 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Prayer positions included prostration, kneeling and standing. … Crosses made of wood or stone, or painted on walls or laid out as mosaics, were also in use, at first not directly as objections of veneration but in order to 'orientate' the direction of prayer (i.e. towards the east, Latinoriens).
The hour of Prime is to be suppressed.
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