A breviary (from Latin brevis, 'short' or 'concise') is a liturgical book containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially for priests, in the Divine Office (i.e., at the canonical hours or Liturgy of the Hours, the Christians' daily prayer). A breviary of such convenient size that it could be carried on the person is called a portuary (portas in plural). Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... From the Greek word λειτουργία, which can be transliterated as leitourgia, meaning a public work, a liturgy comprises a prescribed religious ceremony, according to the traditions of a particular religion; it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual (such as the Catholic Mass), or a daily activity such as... A book is a collection of paper, parchment or other material with a piece of text written on them, bound together along one edge, usually within covers. ... Mary Magdalene in prayer. ... A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure. ... Psalms (Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh. ... Canonical hours are ancient divisions of time, developed by the Christian Church, serving as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. ... The Liturgy of the Hours is usually recited in full in monastic communities. ...

Mary Stuart's personal breviary, which she took with her to the scaffold, is preserved in the Russian National Library of St. Petersburg.

Image File history File links Stuartbreviary. ... Image File history File links Stuartbreviary. ... Mary I of Scotland (Mary Stuart or Stewart) (December 8, 1542 – February 8, 1587), better known as Mary, Queen of Scots, was the ruler of Scotland from December 14, 1542 – July 24, 1567. ... Visit of Alexander I to the library in 1812. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and...

History

Before the rise of the mendicant orders (wandering friars) in the thirteenth century, the daily services were usually contained in a number of large volumes. The first occurrence of a single manuscript of the daily office was written by the Benedictine order at Monte Cassino in Italy in 1099. By a strange twist, the Benedictines were not a mendicant order, but a stable, monastery-based order, and single-volume breviaries are rare from this early period. The Mendicant (or Begging) Orders are religious orders which depend directly on the charity of the people for their livelihood. ... A friar is a member of a religious mendicant order of men. ... Canonical hours are ancient divisions of time, developed by the Christian Church, serving as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. ... A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of St Benedict. ... The restored Abbey Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about eighty miles (130 km) south of Rome, Italy, a mile to the west of the town of Cassino (the Roman Cassinum having been on the hill) and about 1700 ft (520 m) altitude. ... A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of St Benedict. ... The Mendicant (or Begging) Orders are religious orders which depend directly on the charity of the people for their livelihood. ... Monastery of St. ...

However, mendicant friars travelled around a lot and needed a shortened, or abbreviated, daily office contained in one portable book, and single-volume breviaries flourished from the thirteenth century onwards.

These abbreviated volumes soon became very popular and eventually supplanted the Roman Catholic Church's Curia office, previously said by non-monastic clergy. The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church (see Terminology below) is the Christian Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, currently Pope Benedict XVI. It traces its origins to the original Christian community founded by Jesus, with its traditions first established by the Twelve Apostles and maintained through... A Curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ...

Before the advent of printing, breviaries were written by hand and were often richly decorated with initials and miniature illustrations telling stories in the lives of Christ or the saints, or stories from the Bible. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... This page is about the title or the Divine Person. For the Christian figure, see Jesus. ... In traditional Christian iconography, Saints are usually depicted as having halos. ... The word Bible refers to the canonical collections of fairy tales of Judaism and Christianity. ...

Later printed breviaries usually have woodcut illustrations, interesting in their own right but the poor relation of the beautifully illuminated breviaries. Four horsemen of the Apocalypse by Albrecht Dürer. ... In the strictest definition of illuminated manuscript, only manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, like this miniature of Christ in Majesty from the Aberdeen Bestiary (folio 4v), would be considered illuminated. ...

The word breviary can also refer to an abridged version of any text, a brief account or a summary of some subject.

See also

• Liturgy of the hours
• Matins
• Lauds
• Prime
• Terce
• Sext
• None
• Vespers
• Compline
• Little Office of Our Lady

The Liturgy of the Hours is usually recited in full in monastic communities. ... For the Anglican service of Mattins see Morning Prayer Matins is the early morning prayer service in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox liturgies of the canonical hours. ... Lauds is one of the two major hours in the Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Hours. ... Prime is a fixed time of prayer of the traditional Divine Office, said at 6 a. ... Terce is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of the almost all the Christian liturgies. ... Sext is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox liturgies of the canonical hours. ... Compline or Complin is the final church service (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours. ...

Notes

References

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about:

Breviary

• The Anglican Breviary: The Divine Office, in Jacobean English, ie. The Roman Breviary according to the Language and Psalter of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, with excerpts from the 1611 Authorised Version of the Holy Scriptures.
• The breviary information server: Web site dedicated to breviaries, and particularly to making the most of the Church of England's daily office; includes a link to the office online
• Kellerbook.com: Information about the history of some Christian breviaries and psalters
• Universalis Online Breviary
• Liturgy of the Hours by eBreviary (A5 size booklet arrangement for those requiring print-outs, whether for individual Hours or all the Hours of a day combined)
• Latin-English Catholic Roman Breviary 1911 ed.
• Official Catholic editions of the Latin Rite breviary in American English
• Liturgy of the Carthusian Order of the Catholic Church
• Benedictine Divine Office
• ISBN 0005995043: abbreviated Catholic Divine Office, approved for use in Commonwealth countries
• Polish version of the Divine Office text incl. latin text for maior holidays.

Image File history File links Wikisource-logo. ... The original Wikisource logo. ... Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ...

Further reading