Michael Brooks
The Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours, is the daily prayer of the Catholic Church. It is a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer. The Liturgy of the Hours constitutes the public prayer of the Church, along with the Mass. The term Liturgy of the Hours was first used in 1971, but the practice of saying the canonical hours has been around for much longer. The Divine Office is prayed at specific hours of the day and is available in printed form or through a mobile app.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Other names | Liturgy of the Hours, Work of God (Opus Dei), Breviarium Romanum |
| Description | The daily prayer of the Church, marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer |
| Purpose | To prolong the moment of the Holy Eucharist, to savour it, to respond to it in praise and thanksgiving |
| Participants | Monks, priests, deacons, lay faithful |
| Frequency | Seven times a day and once at night |
| Online resources | DivineOffice.org, iBreviary app, DivineOffice app |
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What You'll Learn
The Liturgy of the Hours
The constitutions of religious institutes generally oblige their members to celebrate at least parts of the Liturgy of the Hours and in some cases to do so jointly ("in choir"). Consecrated virgins take on the duty to celebrate the liturgy of hours with the rite of consecration. Within the Latin Church, the lay 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.
The Divine Office is also available as an app and a website. The app has an audio option that says all of the prayers and allows users to set reminders throughout the day. The website is free and sustained by donations.
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The Work of God (Opus Dei)
The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office or the Work of God (Opus Dei), is the daily prayer of the Catholic Church. It marks the hours of each day and sanctifies the day with prayer. The Hours are a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer. The dialogue is held in the presence of God, and at times, it is between the Church or an individual soul and God, between the members of the Church, or between the Church and the world. Each of the five canonical Hours includes selections from the Psalms that culminate in a scriptural proclamation.
The term Liturgy of the Hours was retroactively applied to the practices of saying the canonical hours in both the Christian East and West, particularly within the Latin liturgical rites, before the Second Vatican Council. It is the official term for the canonical hours promulgated for usage by the Latin Church in 1971. The Liturgy of the Hours consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings, prayers, and antiphons prayed at fixed prayer times. Together with the Mass, it constitutes the public prayer of the Church.
The origins of the Divine Office are to be found in the early Church, although no exact date can be assigned to the inauguration of the official "Prayer of the Church". Many scholars believe that the origins of the Christian Office are within the Jewish liturgical tradition, as the Book of Psalms is the primary text used in both Jewish and Christian public prayer. The earliest practice of celebrating the Divine Office involved the laity gathering in congregations with their clergy—priests or deacons—to sing some or all of the Offices. They also made use of sacred images, candles, bells, incense, and gestures like bowing and prostrating in prayer.
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The Monastic or Benedictine Office
The Divine Office is a prayer ritual at the heart of Benedictine life. Monks gather several times a day to pray, read scripture, sing hymns, and offer praise and thanks to God. The Benedictine Office is based on the Rule of St. Benedict, written in the 6th century.
The Divine Office is also known as the Opus Dei or "Work of God", and its origins lie in the early Church. The Book of Psalms forms the bulk of the structure of the Divine Office, as it does for Jewish public prayer. The earliest Christians, many of whom were Jewish, would have been comfortable with this form of prayer. The New Testament instruction to "pray without ceasing" is also reflected in the Divine Office.
The Divine Office is made up of seven daytime hours and one at night. The major hours are Matins, Lauds, and Vespers, and the minor hours are Terce, Sext, None, and Compline. The prayers are structured around the times of day, with psalms and other texts chosen to reflect the time of day they are being prayed. For example, Sext is prayed at midday, when the sun is at its hottest, and the themes of work and family are strong. The office of Vigils, which takes place in the middle of the night, consists of a hymn, psalms, readings, and canticles suitable for the spirit of the midnight hour.
The Benedictine Office is longer than the Roman Office, and the monks at Pluscarden Abbey retain the Latin language and Gregorian Chant.
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The Little Office of Our Lady
The Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours or the Work of God (Opus Dei), is the daily prayer of the Catholic Church. It marks the hours of each day and sanctifies the day with prayer. The Liturgy of the Hours is a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer. It is a sacrifice of praise that is connected to the sacrifice of the Eucharist, preparing for and flowing from the Mass. The Liturgy of the Hours consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings, prayers, and antiphons prayed at fixed prayer times.
The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Hours of the Virgin, is a shorter form of the Divine Office in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a liturgical devotion that usually accompanies the Divine Office in the Catholic Church. The Little Office is a cycle of psalms, hymns, scripture, antiphons, readings, responsorials, and prayers that stress the role of the Virgin Mary in salvation history.
The Little Office originated as a monastic devotion around the middle of the eighth century and was a core text of the medieval and early Reformation primers. By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it had become part of the daily duty of the secular clergy. In the fourteenth century, it became obligatory for all clergy, a requirement that remained until 1568. The Little Office was standardized in 1585 and became part of the Books of Hours in honour of Mary. It was used by many laypeople, and beautifully decorated Books of Hours were prized by the nobility.
The Little Office continued to be customarily recited by devout laity long after the Reformation. In the eighteenth century, an English-only version appeared appended to Bishop Richard Challoner's "Garden of the Soul". In the 1860s, James Burns issued a Latin and English edition. In the twentieth century, minor revisions were made to the Little Office, including liturgical reforms by Pope Pius X in 1910, where the Psalter of the Breviary and the Little Office were rearranged.
In 1963, following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI promulgated Sacrosanctum Concilium, which stated that members of any institute dedicated to acquiring perfection who recite any parts of the Divine Office are performing the public prayer of the Church. However, in the subsequent reforms, many congregations abandoned the Little Office in favour of the revised Liturgy of the Hours.
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The Office of Readings
The Liturgy of the Hours, also known as the Divine Office or the Work of God (Opus Dei), is the daily prayer of the Church, marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer. The Hours are a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer. The dialogue is always held in the presence of God, using the words and wisdom of God. Each of the five canonical Hours includes selections from the Psalms that culminate in a scriptural proclamation.
The Liturgy of the Hours, like many other forms of the canonical hours, consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings, and other prayers and antiphons prayed at fixed prayer times. Together with the Mass, it constitutes the public prayer of the Church.
The Divine Office is a free website sustained by donations. There is also an app that has the prayers available and also has an audio option.
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Frequently asked questions
The Divine Office, also known as the Liturgy of the Hours, is the daily prayer of the Catholic Church. It is a meditative dialogue on the mystery of Christ, using scripture and prayer.
The Liturgy of the Hours is the official term for the canonical hours, which consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings, and other prayers and antiphons prayed at fixed prayer times.
The canonical hours are the prayers said at fixed prayer times. They include Vigils in the morning and Compline in the evening.
The Liturgy of the Hours is the official term for the canonical hours, while the Divine Office is another name for the Liturgy of the Hours. They are based on the same Latin 1971 editio typica.
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