Divine Office

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("Liturgy of the Hours"

The expression "divine office"

This expression signifies etymologically aduty accomplished forGod; in virtue of a Divine precept it means, inecclesiastical language, certainprayers to be recited at fixed hours of the day or night bypriests, religious, orclerics, and, in general, by all thoseobliged by their vocation to fulfil thisduty. The Divine Office comprises only the recitation of certainprayers in theBreviary, and does not include the Mass and otherliturgical ceremonies.

"Canonical Hours", "Breviary", "Diurnal and Nocturnal Office", "Ecclesiastical Office", "Cursus ecclesiasticus", or simply "cursus" are synonyms of "Divine Office". "Cursus" is the form used byGregory writing: "exsurgente abbate cum monachis ad celebrandum cursum" (De glor. martyr., xv). "Agenda", "agenda mortuorum", "agenda missarum", "solemnitas", "missa" were also used. The Greeks employ "synaxis" and "canon" in this sense. The expression "officium divinum" is used in the same sense by the Council ofAix-la-Chapelle (800), the IV Lateran (1215), and Vienne (1311); but it is also used to signify any office of theChurch. Thus Walafrid Strabo, Pseudo-Alcuin, Rupert de Tuy entitle their works onliturgical ceremonies "De officiis divinis".Hittorp, in the sixteenth century, entitled his collection ofmedievalliturgical works "De Catholicæ Ecclesiæ divinis officiis ac ministeriis" (Cologne, 1568). The usage inFrance of the expression "saint-office" as synonymous with "office divin" is not correct. "Saint-office" signifies a Roman congregation, the functions of which are well known, and the words should not be used to replace the name "Divine Office", which is much more suitable and has been used from ancient times.

In the articlesBREVIARY;CANONICAL HOURS;MATINS;PRIME;TERCE;SEXT;NONE;VESPERS, the reader will find treated the special questions concerning the meaning and history of each of the hours, theobligation of reciting theseprayers, the history of the formation of theBreviary, etc. We deal here only with the general questions that have not been dwelt on in those articles.

Primitive form of the office

The custom of recitingprayers at certain hours of the day or night goes back to theJews, from whomChristians have borrowed it. In the Psalms we find expressions like: "I willmeditate on thee in the morning"; "I rose at midnight to give praise to thee"; "Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice"; "Seven times a day I have given praise to thee"; etc. (Cf. "Jewish Encyclopedia", X, 164-171, s.v. "Prayer"). The Apostles observed the Jewish custom ofpraying at midnight, terce, sext, none (Acts 10:3, 9;16:25; etc.). TheChristianprayer of that time consisted of almost the same elements as the Jewish: recital or chanting of psalms, reading of theOld Testament, to which was soon added reading of the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles, and at times canticles composed or improvised by the assistants. "Gloria in excelsis" and the "Te decet laus" are apparently vestiges of these primitive inspirations. At present the elements composing the Divine Office seem more numerous, but they are derived, by gradual changes, from the primitive elements. As appears from the texts of Acts cited above, the firstChristians preserved the custom of going to the Temple at the hour ofprayer. But they had also their reunions orsynaxes in private houses for the celebration of the Eucharist and for sermons and exhortations. But the Eucharistic synaxis soon entailed otherprayers; the custom of going to the Temple disappeared; and the abuses of the Judaizing party forced theChristians to separate more distinctly from theJews and their practices and worship. Thenceforth theChristian liturgy rarely borrowed fromJudaism.

Development

The development of the Divine Office was probably in the following manner: The celebration of the Eucharist was preceded by the recital of the psalms and the reading of theOld andNew Testaments. This was called the Mass of the Catechumens, which has been preserved almost in its original form. Probably this part of the Mass was the first form of the Divine Office, and, in the beginning, the vigils and the Eucharistic Synaxis were one. When the Eucharistic service was not celebrated, theprayer was limited to the recital or chanting of the psalms and the reading of the Scriptures. The vigils thus separated from the Mass became an independent office. During the first period the only office celebrated in public was the Eucharistic Synaxis with vigils preceding it, but forming with it one whole. In this hypothesis the Mass of the Catechumens would be the original kernel of the whole Divine Office. The Eucharistic Synaxis beginning at eventide did not terminate till dawn. The vigils, independently of the Eucharistic service, were divided naturally into three parts; the beginning of the vigils, or the evening Office; the vigils properly so called; and the end of the vigils or the matutinal Office. For when the vigils were as yet the only Office and were celebrated but rarely, they were continued during the greater part of the night. Thus the Office which we have called the Office of evening orVespers, that of midnight, and that of the morning, calledMatins first and thenLauds, were originally but one Office. If this hypothesis be rejected, it must be admitted that at first there was only one public office, Vigils. The service of eventide,Vespers, and that of the morning,Matins orLauds, were gradually separated from it. During the day,Terce, Sext, and None, customary hours of privateprayers both with theJews and the earlyChristians, became laterecclesiastical Hours, just likeVespers orLauds.Complin appears as a repetition ofVespers, first in the fourth century (seeCOMPLIN). Prime is the only hour the precise origin and date of which are known--at the end of the fourth century (seePRIME).

At all events, during the course of the fifth century, the Office was composed, as today, of a nocturnal Office, viz.Vigils--afterwardsMatins--and the seven Offices of the day,Lauds, Prime,Terce, Sext, None,Vespers, andComplin. In the "Apostolic Constitutions" we read: "Precationes facite mane, hora tertia, sexta, nona, et vespere atque galli cantu" (VIII, iv). Such were the hours as they then existed. There are omitted only Prime andComplin, which originated not earlier than the end of the fourth century, and the use of which spread only gradually. The elements of which these hours are composed were at first few in number, identical with those of the Mass of the Catechumens, psalms recited or chanted uninterruptedly (tract) or by two choirs (antiphons) or by a cantor alternating with the choir (responses and versicles); lessons (readings from theOld andNew Testaments, the origin of the capitula), andprayers (seeBREVIARY).

This development of the Divine Office, as far as concerns the Roman liturgy, was completed at the close of the sixth century. Later changes are not in essential points but rather concern additions, as theantiphons toOur Lady at the end of certain offices, matters of the calendar, and optional offices, like those of Saturday (seeLITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY), or of the dead (seeOFFICE OF THE DEAD), and the celebration of new feasts etc. The influence ofSt. Gregory the Great on the formation and fixation of the Roman Antiphonary, an influence that has been questioned, now appearscertain (see "Dict. d'archéol. et de liturgie", s.v. "Antiphonaire").

While allowing a certain liberty as to the exterior form of the office (e.g. the liberty enjoyed by themonks ofEgypt and later by St. Benedict in the constitution of theBenedictine Office), theChurch insisted from ancient times on its right to supervise theorthodoxy of theliturgical formulæ. The Council ofMilevis (416) forbade anyliturgical formula not approved by a council or by a competent authority (cf. Labbe, II, 1540). The Councils ofVannes (461),Agde (506), Epaon (517), Braga (563), Toledo (especially the fourth council)promulgated similar decrees for Gaul andSpain. In the fifth and sixth centuries several facts (seeCANON OF THE MASS) made known to us therights claimed by thepopes inliturgical matters. The same fact is established by the correspondence ofSt. Gregory I. Under his successors the Roman liturgy tends gradually to replace the others, and this is additionalproof of the right of theChurch to control the liturgy (a thesis well established byDom Guéranger in his "Institutions Liturgiques", Paris, 1883, and in his letter to theArchbishop ofReims onliturgical law, op. cit., III, 453 sq.). From the eleventh century, underSt. Gregory VII and his successors, this influence gradually increases (Bäumer-Biron, "Hist. du Bréviaire", especially II, 8, 22 sqq.). From theCouncil of Trent the reformation of theliturgical books enters a new phase.Rome becomes, under PopesPius IV,St. Pius V,Gregory XIII,Sixtus V,Gregory XIV,Urban VII and his successors,Benedict XIV, the scene of a laborious undertaking--the reformation and correction of the Divine Office, resulting in the modern custom, with all therubrics and rules for the recitation of the Divine Office and itsobligation, and with the reformation of theliturgical books, corrected in accordance with the decisions of theCouncil of Trent and solemnly approved by thepopes (Bäumer-Biron, "Hist. du Bréviaire").

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