What is the Divine Office?

The "Divine Office" or "Office" is also known as the "Breviary", "Diurnal and Nocturnal Office", "Hours/Canonica"l or "Hours", "Ecclesiastical Office", "Cursus ecclesiasticus" or "Cursus". It is the official prayer of the Church and is prayed by priests and religious in religious houses, monasteries, convents and chapels. It can be prayed anywhere and often priests often pray it while on the go. It is the custom of religious houses, convents and monasteries to sing the Divine Office together publicly on the hour. The Office can also be recited in private, though, as prescribed, if doing so it should be either soto voce or in silencio, which means the priest inaudibly mouths the words while reading since the Office is a vocal prayer said in the name of the Church. Certain congregations and priests are bound by their duty of state to recite the Office.

The Office consists of seven hours that are prayed at certain times throughout the day. Starting at midnight or early morning these hours include Matins, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. Vespers is an office that is often accompanied by liturgical ceremonies on solemn feast days and Sundays in those places that can accommodate it. Compline sometimes is followed by a procession to a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary by those congregations who have such tradtions.

Each day of the week has its own "common", or general framework which includes specific hymns, antiphons, psalms, prayers, responses. Matins is the longest hour for it also includes readings from the Bible or Church Fathers. Like Holy Mass, the "propers" or special commemorations of the liturgical feast day are inserted into the common of the day. Each of these parts has its own special melody which is either indicated in the Office or memorized through assimilation by members of the congregation. Books containing the Office are called breviaries and usually, for the sake of convenience, come in two volumes. Abbreviated breviaries, those which do not contain Matins, are called diurnals. The Office is traditionally recited in Latin by the Latin Church though it has been translated and is commonly performed in the vernacular since the liturgical reforms of the 1960's.

First answer by ID1206673540. Last edit by Traz. Contributor trust: 380 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 1 [recommend question].