Hours, Canonical
hours, canonical
The fixed portion of Divine Office appointed by the Church to be recited at different hours by clerics in Holy Orders, beneficiaries, and religious bound to the Office of Choir.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Hours, Canonical
I. IDEA
By canonical hour is understood all the fixed portion of the Divine Office which the Church appoints to be recited at the different hours. The term was borrowed from the custom of the Jews, and passed into the speech of the early Christians. In the Acts of the Apostles we see that prayer was designated by the hour at which it was said (Acts 3:1). The observance from being optional having become obligatory for certain classes of persons in virtue of canons or ordinances promulgated by the Church, each portion of the Divine Office was called a canonical hour, and the whole of the prayers fixed for a certain day took the name of canonical hours. This term was extended to apply to the book or collection which contained these prayers, hence the expression “book of hours”. The Rule of St. Benedict is one of the most ancient documents in which the expression, canonical hours is found; in chapter lxvii we read “ad omnes canonicas horas”. It passed into common speech about the next century as may be judged from St. Isidore of Seville (“De ecclesiasticis officiis”, I, xix, in P. L. LXXXIII, 757), etc. The article BREVIARY treats the various parts which compose the Divine Office, together with their origin and the history of their formation; under each of the words designating them details will be found concerning their composition, the modifications they have undergone, and the questions raised with regard to their origin (see COMPLINE); here we shall deal only with the obligation of reciting them imposed by the Church on certain classes of people, an obligation which recalls, as has been said, the very qualification of canonical.
II. OBLIGATION OF RECITING
After having devoted a few lines to the present discipline of the Church on this point, the origin and successive development of the obligation will be treated at length.
A. Present Discipline of the Church
This is set forth by all moral theologians and canonists. They treat more or less extensively of the character of this obligation, the conditions required for complying with it, and practical instances of infraction or negligence. All modern authors derive their inspiration from St. Alphonsus Liguori (Theologia Moralis, VI, n. 140 sqq.). The general thesis on the existence of this obligation and the persons whom it concerns may be formulated thus: the following are bound each day to the recitation, at least private, of the canonical hours: (a) all clerics in Holy orders; (b) all beneficiaries; (c) religious men and women, who are bound by their rule to the office of choir (Deshayes, “Memento juris ecclesiastici”, n. 430). According to the terms of this pronouncement there must be considered (1) the obligatory character of this recitation; it deals with a precept of the Church which aims at binding to this duty certain classes of persons whom she makes her representatives with God. The obligation is founded on the virtue of religion; its infraction may be a mortal sin if the omitted part is notable. (2) The validity of private recitation, but in this case the person who recites it must actually pronounce the words, for it is something more than mental prayer. (3) The persons obliged to recite the hours: (a) All clerics in Holy orders, that is, all who have received the sub-diaconate or one of the superior orders, for, since the twelfth century, the sub-diaconate has been incontestably ranked among Holy orders (Innocentius III, cap. “Miramur”, 7, “de servis non ordinandis”). All are bound unless legitimately dispensed by the sovereign pontiff even though they are excommunicated, suspended, or interdicted. (b) All beneficiaries, that is, all who enjoy a perpetual right to derive revenue from the goods of the Church, by reason of a spiritual charge with which the Church has invested them, even though they are merely tonsured; this obligation binds under pain of losing their right to the benefice, in proportion to the extent of their omission, conformably to the statute of the Fifth Council of the Lateran (1512-17). (c) Lastly, religious, both men and women, bound by their rule to the office of choir, from the instant they have made solemn profession in an order approved by the Church.
As for the solemnly professed, everyone agrees that they are bound to recite the Office whether in choir, or in private (if they cannot assist at choir), even when they are not yet in Holy orders; this is the meaning of the ancient custom observed in religious orders, and a reply of the Penitentiary has definitively consecrated this interpretation (26 November, 1852). But Pope Pius IX having (17 March, 1857) decreed through the Congregation of Regulars that, in future, solemn vows should be preceded by a trienniate of simple vows the question arose whether during this trienniate the religious are bound to the recitation of Divine Office. The doubt submitted by the general of the Dominicans to the Sacred Congregation on the condition of regulars received a negative reply. This reply, nevertheless, maintained for those religious the obligation of assisting at choir (6 August, 1858). Whence it follows that for religious with simple vows exemption from Office bears simply on private recitation when they cannot assist at choir. Such is, in brief, the condition of canonical legislation on the obligation of reciting the canonical hours in as far as concerns persons.
B. Origins and Successive Development of this Obligation
(1) The official prayer of the Church called in the Bible “the sacrifice of the lips” was from the early times of Christianity confided to persons charged with praying for the whole Christian people. It may be said that the obligation imposed on a class of persons is found in germ in the confiding by the Apostles (Acts 6:4) to the deacons of the external care of the community, the Apostles themselves reserving the duties of prayer and evangelical preaching.
(2) We will summarize here the chapters in which Thomassin gives the history of prayer and the development of this obligation (“Vetus et nova ecclesiæ disciplina”, Part I, II, lxxii sqq.; Roskovany has treated the same subject in “Coelibatus et Breviarium”, v, viii, xi, xii). During the first five centuries, although the Christian body under the presidency of the bishop and priests took part daily in the Divine Offices, clerics were under a stricter obligation to assist thereat; if they were prevented by some other duty they were under obligation to supply the omission by private recitation. Witness for the Church of the Orient in the fourth century this text of the Apostolic Constitutions: “Precationes facite mane et tertia hora, ac sexta et nona vespera atque in gallicinio” (VIII, xxxiv, P. G., I, 1135). The same chapter adds that if the assembly could not take place in the Church because of the infidels, the bishop should assemble his flock in some private house, and if he could not, each one should discharge this pious duty either alone or with two or three of his brethren. Thus, says, Thomassin, from the infancy of the Church there has been a Divine Office composed of psalms, prayers, and lessons, this office has been publicly chanted in the churches or oratories, the ecclesiastics were charged with presiding at the prayer in union with the bishop, the faithful were included in the same obligation of piety, and if prevented from assembling these prayers had to be said in private. The liturgical prescriptions of the Council of Laodicea (c. 387) which appear to be borrowed from the Liturgy of Constantinople are an echo of these practices (Hefele-Leclercq, “Histoire des conciles”, I, 994). The anchorites, disciples of St. Pachomius, the monks of Egypt and the Thebaid derived inspiration from this legislation of the Church regarding prayer (see Sozomen, “Hist. Eccles.”, P. G., LXVII, c. 1071; Cassian, “De coenobiorum institutione”, P. L., XLIX, c. 82-7).
In this way the idea of the Church is manifested; if she no longer formulates in precise terms the law of prayer for clerics and monks she lets it be understood to what extent she holds them bound. Clerics are by their ordination attached to the service of a church; the principal function of the ministers in each church is the Mass and public prayer; this public prayer consists in the recitation of the Divine Office. It must be remarked further that the material subsistence of clerics is assured them by the Church as a consequence of their ordination, but on condition that they assist at Divine Office; those who fail will have no part in the daily distributions. For the Western Church the same conclusion is drawn from the manner in which the Fathers express themselves when they speak of public prayer (see some of their testimony in this respect under BREVIARY). In their eyes, in the measure in which they are formed and developed, the canonical hours are as the attestation and result of the continual prayer of the Church; clerics have so many more reasons for taking an active part, as they have more liberty and leisure, and it is in great measure to this end that an honest livelihood is assured them. From the fifth century councils formulated laws on this subject with sanctions and penalties; such is the fourteenth canon of a provincial council of the province of Tours held at Vannes, in Brittany, in 465. (Hefele-Leclerq, “Histoire des conciles”, II, 905; see also Baumer, “Histoire du Bréviaire”, I, 219. For Spain may be mentioned various decisions of a council held at Toledo about 400. Hefele-Leclerq, op. cit., II, 123.)
(3) Sixth to eighth century.–Decisions multiplied especially in the West obliging clerics to celebrate publicly the Divine Office. To-day the “statuta ecclesiæ antiqua” are most commonly ascribed to the sixth century and the Church of Arles in Gaul, though long attributed to the fourth Council of Carthage (398); canon xlix ordains “that a cleric who without being sick fails in the vigils should be deprived of his benefice” (Hefele-Leclerq, “Histoire des conciles”, II, 105). Particular councils followed in great numbers and, while displaying solicitude in establishing uniformity in the order of psalmody and the Office, made regulations for their worthy celebration by priests, deacons, and the other members of the clergy. The monks, called upon to supply the insufficiency of the clergy in the accomplishment of this duty, had likewise to abide by these decisions; indeed, on many occasions they were instrumental in their preparation. Among these councils may be quoted that of Agde in 506, that of Tarragona in 516, that of Epaon in 517, etc. In these councils the aim was to follow the Eastern and the Roman usages. The monastic rules had not waited for these rules to promote the worthy celebration of the hours; it is known what importance St. Benedict attached to what he called the Divine work par excellence: “Nihil operi Dei præponatur”, we read in ch. xliii. This sketch of the obligation of priests and clerics to take part in the celebration of the Divine Office may be concluded by citing the decree promulgated by Emperor Justinian I in 528; “Sancimus ut omnes clerici per singulas ecclesias constituti per seipsos nocturnas et matutinas et vespertinas preces canant” (Kriegel and Hermann, “Corpus juris civilis”, Leipzig, II, 39).
As to the private recitation of the Divine Office, Thomassin (“Vetus et nova ecclesiæ disciplina”, part I, II, lxxiii sqq.) gives the proofs which establish its obligatory character as early as the fifth century for priests and clerics; Grancolas in “Commentarius historicus in Breviarum romanum” relies on the testimony of St. Jerome. For what concerns monks, we have a more certain testimony in the Rule of St. Benedict. Ch. l prescribes that those who work outdoors or who are travelling should accomplish God’s work at the hour appointed, and in whatever place they are, to the best of their ability. Therefore, they were merely dispensed from the lessons, but recited by heart the psalms, hymns, and shorter prayers. Dom Ruinart (Preface to works of Gregory of Tours, P. L., LXXI, 36-40) assures us that in the works of Gregory of Tours proofs are to be found attesting the fidelity of ecclesiastics of every degree to the recitation of the hours in private when they could not assist at public Office. These persons did not consider themselves free to omit this recitation.
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F.M. CABROL Transcribed by Elizabeth T. Knuth Dedicated to Thomas S. Charters
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIICopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Hours, Canonical
signifies, in ecclesiastical usage, the daily round of prayers and praise in some churches, both ancient and modern. The ancient order of these hours is as follows:
1. Nocturns or [Matins, a service performed before daybreak (properly a night service), called vigils by the Council of Carthage (398), but afterwards the first hour after dawn; mentioned by Cyprian as midnight and matins, and by Athanasius as nocturns and midnight (Psa 119:62-147; Act 16:25). Cassian and Isidore say this season was first observed in the 5th century, in the monastery of Bethlehem, in memory of the nativity.
2. Lauds, a service performed at daybreak, following the matin shortly, if not actually joined on to it, mentioned by Basil and the Apostolical Constitutions.
3. Prime, a service performed at about six o’clock A.M., the first hour, mentioned by Athanasius (Psa 92:2; Psa 5:3; Psa 59:16).
4. Tierce or Terce, a service performed at 9 A.M., the third hour; mentioned by Tertullian with Sexts and Nones (see below), as commemorating the time when the disciples were assembled at Pentecost (Act 2:15).
5. Sext, a service performed at noonday, the sixth hour, commemorating Peter’s praying (Act 10:19).
6. Nones, a service performed at 3 P.M., the ninth hour, commemorating the time when Peter and John went up to the Temple (Act 3:1).
7. Vespers, a service performed in the early evening; mentioned by Basil, Ambrose, and Jerome, and by the Apostolical Constitutions (which we cite below), to commemorate the time when Christ instituted the Eucharist, showing it was the eventide of the world. This hour is called from evening, according to St. Augustine, or the evening star, says St. Isidore. It was also known as the office and the hour of lights as, until the 8th or 9th century, was usual in the East and at Milan; also when the lamps were lighted (Zec 14:7). The Roman custom of saying Vesper after Nones then came into use in the West (Walcott, Sac. Archaeol. p. 316).
8. Compline, the last evening or bedtime service (Psa 132:3); first separated from Vespers by Benedict.
The office of Lauds was, however, very rarely separated from that of Matins, and these eight hours of prayer were therefore practically only seven, founded on David’s habit (Psalm 4:17; 119:62).
The Apostolical Constitutions (8, 34) mention the hours as follows: Ye shall make prayer in the moranieg, giving thanks, because the Lord hath enlightened you, removing the night, and bringing the day; at the third hour, because the Lord then received sentence from Pilate; at the sixth, because he was crucified; at the ninth, because all things were shaken when the Lord was crucified, trembling at the audacity of the impious Jews, not enduring that the Lord should be insulted; at evening giving thanks, because he hath given the night for rest from labor; at cock-crowing, because that hour gives glad tidings that the day is dawning in which to work the works of light. Cassian likewise mentions the observation of Tierce, Sext, and Nones in monasteries. Tertullian and Pliny speak of Christian services before daylight. Jerome names Tierce, Sext, Nones, Vespers, and Lauds; also Augustine-for the two latter hours, however, substituting Early Vigil. Archdeacon Freeman, of the Church of England, gives (Principles of Div. Serv. 1, 219 sq.) the following explanation, viz. that these offices, though neither of apostolic nor early post-apostolic date as Church services, had, nevertheless, probably existed in a rudimentary form, as private or household devotions, from a very early period, and had been received into the number of recognized public formularies previous to the reorganization of the Western ritual after the Eastern model. Various reasons have been assigned for a deeper meaning in the hours; one is, that they are the thanksgiving for the completion of creation on the seventh day. Another theory beautifully connects them with the acts of our Lord in his passion: Evensong with his institution of the Eucharist, and washing the disciples’ feet, and the going out to Gethsemane; Compline with his agony and bloody sweat; Matins with his appearance before Caiaphas; Prime and Tierce with that in the presence of Pilate; Tierce also with his scourging, crown of thorns, and presentation to the people; Sext with his bearing the cross, the seven words, and crucifixion; Nones with his dismission of his Spirit, descent into hell, and rout of tire devil; Vespers with his deposition from the cross nd entombment; Compline with the setting of the watch; Matins with his resurrection (Walcott, Sacred Archaeol. p. 317).
Of the origin of these hours, Bingham (Antiquities of the Christ. Church, bk. 13:ch. 9:p. 661 sq.) says that they who have made the most exact inquiries can find no footsteps of them in the first three ages, but conclude that they came first into the Church with the monastic life (compare also Pearson, Praelect. in Act. Apost. mum. 3, 4). It is observable further, that most of the writers of the fourth age, who speak of six or seven hours of prayer, speak of the observances of the monks only, and not of the whole body of the Church. Thus Jerome, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Cassian, Cassiodorus, and most other writers of the early Christian Church, speak but of three hours of prayers; thus, also, even Chrysostom himself, who, however, when speaking of the monks and their institutions (Fomil. 14 in I Timothy p. 1599), gives about the same number of canonical hours as others do. Yet it is very likely even that in some Eastern churches these hours of prayers might have been practiced in the 4th century, and quite certain that the different churches observing the hours varied greatly both as to the number of the hours and the service in their first original. At the time of the Reformation, the canonical hours were reduced in the Lutheran Church to two, morning and evening; the Reformed Church never observed them (Brande and Cox, Dict. of Science, Literat. and Art, 2, 152). In the Church of England these services were, at the time of the English Reformation, used as distinct offices only by stricter religious persons and the clergy. At the revision of the liturgy of that Church under Edward VI, it was decided to have only two solemn services of public worship in the day, viz.
Matins, composed of matins, lauds, and prime; and Evensong, consisting of vespers and compline. In the Greek Church, Neale (Essays on Liturgiology and Church Hist., Essay 1, p. 6 sq.) says, There are eight canonical hours; prayers are actually, for the most part, said three times daily-matins, lauds, and prime, by aggregation early in the morning; tierce, sexts, and the liturgy (communion) later; nones, vespers, and compline, by aggregation in the evening. So, also, is it in the West. Except in monastic bodies, says the same writer (p. 46 sq.), the breviary as a church office is scarcely ever used as a whole. You may go, we do not say from church to church, but from cathedral to cathedral of Central Europe, and never hear matins save at high festivals. In Spain and Portugal it is somewhat more frequent, but there, as everywhere, it is a clerical devotion exclusively Then the lesser hours are not often publicly said except in cathedrals, and then principally by aggregation, and in connection with mass In no national Church under the sun are so many matin services said as in our own. It may not be out of place here to add that seven hours formed the basis of the Primers (q.v.). English editions of these, set forth by authority in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward V, and of queen Elizabeth, show that the English reformers did not wish to discourage the observance of the ancient hours of prayer. As late as 1627, by command of Charles I, bishop Cosin published a Collection of Private Devotions in the practice of the ancient Church, called the Hours of Prayer, as they were after this manner published by authority of queen Elizabeth, 1560,’ etc. See, besides the authorities already referred to, Procter, Prayer Book, chap. 1; Blunt (the Rev. J. H.), Dict. of Doctrinal and Hist. Theol. (London 1870), 1, 315; Siegel, Christl. Kirche. Alterthmer, 1, 270 sq.; 4, 65 sq. SEE CANONICAL; SEE BREVIARY. (J. H. W.)