Diurnal offices

The diurnal offices or daytime offices (Ecclesiastical Latin: horae diurnae) are the canonical hours for recitation during the day. Interpretation of their number and identity varies.

Traditionally, Christian monastics prayed the Divine Office in the quire of the church

Seven offices

The monastic rule drawn up by Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 – c. 547) distinguishes between the seven daytime canonical hours of lauds (dawn), prime (sunrise), terce (mid-morning), sext (midday), none (mid-afternoon), vespers (sunset), compline (retiring) and the one nighttime canonical hour of night watch. It links the seven daytime offices with Psalm 118/119:164, "Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules";[1] and the one nighttime office with Psalm 118/119:62, "At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules",[2][3][4]

In this reckoning, the one nocturnal office, together with lauds and vespers, are the three major hours, the other five are the minor or little hours.[5][6][7]

The Second Vatican Council suppressed the hour of prime.[8]

Three offices

According to Dwight E. Vogel,[9] Daniel James Lula[10] and Elizabeth Moore[11] the diurnal offices are terce, sext, and none, which are distinguished from the major hours of matins (morning prayer), lauds and vespers and from the nighttime hours of compline and vigil.

See also

References
  1. Psalm 119:164
  2. Psalm 119:62
  3. Regula S.P.N. Benedicti, caput 6
  4. Rule of Saint Benedict, chapter 16
  5. Code of Rubrics (1960), 138
  6. Bouscaren, Timothy Lincoln; O'Connor, James I. (1958). The Canon Law Digest: 1958-1962. Bruce. Retrieved 5 December 2015. Of these, Matins, Lauds and Vespers are called major Hours; Prime, Terce, Sext, None, and Compline, minor Hours.
  7. Felix Just, "The Liturgy of the Hours"
  8. Sacrosanctum Concilium, Article 89(d)
  9. Dwight W. Vogel, ed. (2012). The Book of Offices and Services (Fourth ed.). Order of Saint Luke. p. 81. ISBN 1478391022. The Diurnal Offices: These brief diurnal or daytime offices punctuate the day with prayer. They are prayed in the setting in which we find ourselves, whether at work, as a community gathered for learning or fellowship, or on retreat. While the traditional times for these are at the third, sixth, and ninth hours (that is, at (9:00 am, noon, and 3:00 pm), the exact time for each is variable according to the context of the settings in which we pray them.
  10. Lula, Daniel James (2013). "The Anglican Breviary". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 December 2015. Reciting the "diurnal," or day office, of Terce, Sext and None may be one of the easiest ways for a modern individual to sanctify his or her work-day. The three day Hours, identical in structure, are each much simpler and shorter than any of the Major Hours or Compline. They can easily be recited at their appointed times -- 9 a.m., 12 noon, and 3 p.m. -- aggregated during the lunch hour, or said alone as time permits.
  11. Elizabeth Moore, OSL (ed.). A Lukan Book of Hours: Basic Forms of the Daily Office. Order of Saint Luke. p. 1. ISBN 9781508553014. The seven "hours" (offices or services) provided by The Order of Saint Luke follow the pattern of the seven hours listed by Basil the Great in the fourth century. There are two principal hours (Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer), three diurnal or daytime hours (mid-morning, mid-day, and mid-afternoon), and two nocturnal or nighttime hours (compline and vigil).
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