Ecclesiastical life was followed by clerics, priests, monks and nuns. These were living in and working in cathedrals and parish churches, monasteries and other Christian institutions where they endeavored to follow the commandment to pray without ceasing. One of the principle methods for doing so was to observe religious services at regular intervals throughout the day. This became standardized to holding a service every three hours. This cycle of services observed throughout the day became known as Canonical Hours or Offices, or Liturgical Hours..
These services were held, for example, at 6 am, 9 am, 12 noon and so on throughout the day. Monks in a monastery, clerics in a cathedral would leave their work and assemble in the chapel for a short service, often of 15-20 minutes, consisting of prayers, praise and singing, and Bible reading.
This tradition developed quite early in Church history, becoming widely recognized in the 3rd century. In early practice, there were two sequences that were used to name these Canonical Hours. The first sequence started with Prime at 6 am and then followed every three hours with Terce at 9 am, Sext at 12 noon, and Nones at 3 pm. These services were influenced by the stages of Christ's passion.
The second sequence referred to the time of the day when the Office was held. Vespers at 6 pm, Compline at 9 pm, Nocturnus at 12 midnight, Vigil at 3 am, Matins at 6 am and Laudes at 9 am. For the clerical traditions that used these names for the Liturgical Hours it became apparent that neither sequence was complete and that there were significant overlaps in the times these services were held. The result is that the names used to identify the services were less important than the fact that they were regularly held by the institution.
As this tradition developed over centuries, various institutions made different decisions about what to call the Offices. Some used only 7 Hours, often omitting Vigil from the middle of the night. Some used Prime as the name of the service at 6 am, while others called that service Matins ("morning") or Laudes ("praise"). For some, it was understood that each service might have more than one name. So one group might use the name of Laudes and Prime interchangeably.
Not every institution observed all the Hours. It was very common to have a Morning Prayer at 9 am that might be called Laudes and an Evening Prayer at 6 pm called Vespers or Evensong. These two daily services might be open to the public, while the later Hours were only observed by the strictest members.
Another tradition that developed was to make each Office more specific to its nature. Therefore, the invocation, scripture readings, and songs included in the Matins service would be different from the prayers and readings said for Laudes or Prime. Prime was a different service than Laudes, even though either could be said at 6 am.
This overlap of hours, and redundant names led to considerable ambiguity over the centuries.
St. Benedict (A.D. 480-543) writes of the canonical hours in his Rule for religious Order:
As the Prophet saith: "Seven times a day I have given praise to Thee," this sacred sevenfold number will be fulfilled by us in this wise if we perform the duties of our service at the time of Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Complin; because it was of these day hours that he hath said: "Seven times a day I have given praise to Thee." For the same Prophet saith of the night watches: "At midnight I arose to confess to Thee." At these times, therefore, let us offer praise to our Creator "for the judgments of His justice;" namely, at Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Complin; and let us rise at night to praise Him.
Modern communities have different interpretations:
"Matins, the lengthiest service, originally said at a night hour, is now appropriately said at any hour of the day. Lauds and vespers are the solemn morning and evening prayers of the church."
"Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning"
Daybreak, Dawn: Laudes, Matins
The word Laudes means "The Praises." Matins and Lauds were at one time, a
single office sung at dawn. "Matins" in Latin literally means "belonging to the morning."
Later, Vigils started to be called "Matins," Matins started to be called "Lauds."
From another perspective, Matins is the Morning service, particularly in the Anglican tradition. However, Laudes is the morning service in the Benedictine tradition, so Matins was observed earlier in the day, often at 3 am, or even earlier at 12 midnight.
Vigil was the midnight service, when communicants held Vigil by praying all night. Later, Vigil began to refer to offices held for specific events or memoriams. For example the Christmas Vigil was held at midnight, the morning of Christmas Day. Or, one might hold a vigil in prayer for a loved one. At other times, the midnight service was simply referred to as Matins, when no specific Vigil was called for. Later still, Matins was a service said for convenience the evening before, at the time of Compline.
However, In the original intention of the Hours, Nocturnus was said at Midnight. Vigil was said at 3 am. Matins was said at 6 am. There is some evidence that Laudes was said at 9 am as the primary service of the morning. This would be the morning prayer that was open to all, while earlier services were in the early morning and might only be attended by the strictly observant of the community.
Prime was held at the same time as Matins and Laudes, a service at the beginning of the day.
6 am: Prime, Sunrise
"The word Prime comes from the Latin word for "first" and should be said at the first hour of the day, that is to say, the first hour of sunlight, or the early morning. The text of the Office of Prime refers continually to the work (both spiritual and temporal) of the day that has just begun, and as such it is most helpful to recite Prime as early as possible after waking."
9 am: Terce (the 3rd hour), Morning prayer.
"The word Terce derives from the Latin for "third" and should be said approximately three hours after sunrise, typically at around 9:00 am. It contains references to the hour at which the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles at Pentecost."
12 Noon: Sext (the 6th hour)
"From the Latin word for "sixth" Sext is the midday prayer of the Church and contains text invoking God's help against the temptations and struggles we encounter during the heat of the day."
3 pm: Nones (the 9th hour)
"This word derives from the Latin for "ninth" and is typically said in mid-afternoon. It commemorates the ninth hour at which our Divine Saviour died on the Cross, and looks forward to the ending of the day's work, and the evening rest."
6 pm: Vespers, Evening prayer, Evensong
"Vespers, which is also known as Evensong, is, as the name implies, the evening prayer of the Church, and should ideally be said at about sunset."
9 pm: Compline
"The last of the canonical Hours, Compline is concerned with the ending of the day, and the entrusting of one's soul to the Almighty for safekeeping during the coming night. Its other preoccupation is with the soul's preparation for death, of which sleep is merely the foreshadowing. It is therefore, the ideal night prayer, and should be said before retiring."
12 midnight Nocturnis, Midnight office
3 am: Vigil
Later it became customary to move Matins before Laudes and it became part of or replaced the Vigil. Vigil could also be observed at midnight
The interesting thing about these canonical offices or prayers is that their times are moveable. "There are no hard-and-fast rules on what time the Hours should be said." While it might be beneficial to discipline to begin Laudes exactly at daybreak, it can also be said on the previous day, perhaps in the evening. Different traditions also place the offices in different orders. For example, Prime is held in the first hour of the day, typically 6 AM. This first service of the day is also referred to as Laudes by other traditions, with the understanding that it is also the Prime hour. Or Matins can be said earlier in the day, before Laudes. In the winter, daybreak may well come after 6 am.
Priests, nuns and other consecrated persons are canonically required to pray five of the hours (Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer and one of the daytime prayers)
At St Andrews:
Our prayer book contains four prayer services for use throughout the day:
- Matins Morning Prayer (also sometimes spelled Mattins)
- Noonday Prayer (a short service that you can pray in 5 minutes)
- Vespers Evening Prayer (when it is sung, this is called Evensong)
- Compline bedtime prayers
- An opening "call to prayer"
- One to three psalms
- One or two readings from scripture
- Canticles (which are songs from the Bible that aren't psalms)
- The Apostles' Creed
- Lord's Prayer
- Some prayers for our needs and the needs of the world
Comments
Post a Comment