Sext

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Meaning, symbolism, and origin

Thehora sexta of the Romans corresponded closely with our noon. Among theJews it was already regarded, together withTerce and None, as an hour most favourable toprayer. In theActs of the Apostles we read that St. Peter went up to the higher parts of the house topray (x, 9). It was the middle of the day, also the usual hour of rest, and in consequence for devout men, an occasion topray toGod, as were the morning and evening hours. TheFathers of the Church dwell constantly on the symbolism of this hour; their teaching is merely summarized here: it is treated at length inCardinal Bona's work on psalmody (ch. viii). Noon is the hour when the sun is at its full, it is the image of Divine splendour, the plenitude ofGod, the time of grace; at the sixth hour Abraham received the threeangels, the image of the Trinity; at the sixth hourAdam andEve ate the fatal apple. We shouldpray at noon, saysSt. Ambrose, because that is the time when the Divine light is in its fulness (In Ps. cxviii, vers. 62).Origen,St. Augustine, and several others regard this hour as favourable toprayer. Lastly and above all, it was the hour when Christ was nailed to the Cross; this memory excelling all the others left a still visible trace in most of the liturgy of this hour.

All these mystic reasons and traditions, which indicate the sixth hour as a culminating point in the day, a sort of pause in the life of affairs, the hour of repast, could not but exercise an influence onChristians, inducing them to choose it as an hour ofprayer. As early as the third century the hour of Sext was considered as important asTerce and None as an hour ofprayer.Clement of Alexandria speaks of these three hours ofprayer (Stromata VIII.7), as doesTertullian ("De orat.", xxiii-xv, P.L., I, 1191-93). Long previous the "Didache" had spoken of the sixth hour in the same manner (Funk, "Doctrina XII Apostolorum", V, XIV, XV).Origen, the "Canons of Hippolytus", andSt. Cyprian express the same tradition (cf. Bäumer, "Hist. du bréviaire", I, 68, 69, 73, 75, 186, etc.). It is therefore evident that the custom ofprayer at the sixth hour was well-established in the third century and even in the second century or at the end of the first. But probably most of these texts refer to privateprayer. In the fourth century the hour of Sext was widely established as a canonical hour. The following are very explicit examples. In hisruleSt. Basil made the sixth hour an hour ofprayer for themonks ("Regulæ fusius tractatæ", P.G., XXXI, 1013, sq., 1180), Cassian treats it as an hour ofprayer generally recognized in hismonasteries (Instit. Coenob., III, iii, iv). The "De virginitate" wrongly attributed toSt. Athanasius, but in any casedating from the fourth century, speaks of theprayer of Sext as do also the "Apostolic Constitutions", St. Ephrem,St. Chrysostom (for the texts see Bäumer, op. cit., I, 131, 145, 152, etc., and Leclercq, in "Dict. d'arch. chrét.", s.v. Bréviaire). But this does not prove that the observance of Sext, any more than Prime,Terce, None, or even the other hours, was universal. Discipline on this point varied widely according to regions and Churches. And in fact some countries may be mentioned where the custom was introduced only later. That the same variety prevailed in the formulæ ofprayer is shown in the following paragraph.

Variety of prayers and formulae

Despite its antiquity the hour of Sext never had the importance of those of Vigils,Matins, andVespers. It must have been of short duration. The oldest testimonies mentioned seem to refer to a shortprayer of a private nature. In the fourth and the following centuries the texts which speak of the compositions of this Office are far from uniform. Cassian tells us that in Palestine three psalms were recited for Sext, as also forTerce and None (Instit., III, ii). This number was adopted by the Rules of St. Benedict, Columbanus,St. Isidore, St. Fructuosus, and to a certain extent by theRoman Church. However, Cassian says that in some provinces three psalms were said atTerce, six at Sext, and nine at None. Others recited six psalms at each hour and this custom became general among the Gauls (cf.Hefele-Leclercq, "Hist. des conciles", III, 189; Leclercq, loc. cit., 1296, 1300; Martène, "De antiq. eccl. ritibus", III, 20; IV, 27). In Martène will be found theproof of variations in different Churches andmonasteries. With regard to ancient times the "Peregrinatio Sylviæ", tells us that at the hour of Sext all assembled in the Anastasis where psalms and anthems were recited after which thebishop came and blessed the people (cf. Cabrol, "Étude sur la Peregrinatio", Paris, 1895, 45-46). The number of psalms is not stated. In the sixth century theRule of St. Benedict gives the detailed composition of this Office. We quote it here because it is almost the same as the Roman Liturgy; either the latter borrowed from St. Benedict, or St. Benedict was inspired by the Roman usage. Sext, likeTerce and None, was composed at most of three psalms, of which the choice was fixed, the Deus in adjutorium, ahymn, a lesson (capitulum), a versicle, theKyrie Eleison, and the customary concludingprayer and dismissal (xvii, cf. xviii).

In the Roman liturgy Sext is also composed of the Deus in adjutorium, ahymn, three portions ofPsalm 118, the lesson, the short response, the versicle, and theprayer. In theGreek Church Sext is composed like the lesser hours of two parts; the first includes Pss. liii, liv, xc, with invitatory, tropes, and conclusion. The second, of Mesarion which is very similar to the first, consists of Pss. lv, lvi, and lxix. In the modern Mozarabic Office Sext consists only ofPsalm 53, three "octonaries" ofPsalm 118, two lessons, thehymn, the supplication, the capitulum, thePater Noster, and the benediction.

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