Prime is a fixed time of prayer of the traditional Divine Office, said at 6 a.m., of almost all the traditional Christian liturgies. In the Roman Catholic Church it has been suppressed for normative use after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. It consists mainly of psalms. This office, however, is by no means obsolete, since it is observed by Traditional Catholic and some monastic communities. Canonical hours are ancient divisions of time (also called offices), developed by the Christian Church, serving as increments between prayers. ... The Roman Catholic Church, (also known as the Catholic Church), is the ancient Christian Church led by the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. ... The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was an Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. ... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... Traditional Catholic is a broad term used to describe many groups of Roman Catholics who follow more traditional aspects of the Catholic Faith. ...

From the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1917; note that this describes the office before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council; the numbering system of psalms is that of the Septuagint and are said in Latin: The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was an Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. ... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... The Septuagint (LXX) is the name commonly given in the West to the Koine Greek Alexandrine text of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh/Old Testament) produced some time between the third to first century BC. The Septuagint Bible includes additional books of the old Jewish canon beyond those contained in the... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

THE NAME

The name Prime (prima hora) belongs with those of Terce, Sext, None, to the short offices recited at the different hours of the day, called by these names among the Romans, that is, prima towards 6 a.m.; tertia, towards 9 a.m.; sexta, towards noon; nona towards 3 p.m. At first Prime was termed matitutina (hora), morning hour; later, in order to distinguish it from the nocturnal hours of Matins and Lauds, and to include it among hours of the day, it was called prima. The name is first met with in the Rule of St. Benedict. In the Antiphonary of Bangor it is called secunda. Terce is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Sext is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church. ... The Little Hours are the fixed daytime hours of prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours of the Roman Catholic Church. ... A nocturnal animal is one that sleeps during the day and is active at night - the opposite of the human (diurnal) schedule. ... 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. ... St Benedict of Nursia The Rule of St Benedict by Benedict of Nursia (fl. ... The Antiphonary of Bangor is an ancient Latin manuscript, supposed to have been originally written at Bangor, County Down (Northern Ireland). ...

ORIGIN

This short office is one of those whose origin is best known. John Cassian, speaking of Prime, says expressly "sciendum . . . hanc matitutinam canonicam functionem [i.e. Prime] nostro tempore in nostro quoque monasterio primitus institutam" (Instit., III, IV). John Cassian (c. ...

As the chronology of Cassian's works has recently been established fairly accurately, the institution of Prime must be placed towards 382 (see Pargoire, op. cit. below, 288). Apropos of this monastery, of which Cassian speaks as the cradle of Prime, it has now been proved that it was not St. Jerome's monastery at Bethlehem, but another, perhaps one established beyond the Tower of Ader (or of the Flock) beyond the village of the Shepherds, and consequently beyond the modern Beth-saour; it has been identified either with Deïr-er-Raouat (convent of the shepherds) or with Seiar-er-Ganhem (enclosure of the sheep). Events October 3 - Theodosius I commands his general Saturninus to conclude a peace treaty with the Visigoths, allowing them to settle south of the Danube. ... , by Albrecht Dürer Saint Jerome (ca. ... The Church of the Nativity, a Bethlehem Landmark Bethlehem (Arabic بيت لحم â–¶ (help· info) house of meat; Standard Hebrew בית לחם house of bread, Bet léḥem / Bet láḥem; Tiberian Hebrew Bêṯ léḥem / Bêṯ lāḥem) (Greek: Βηθλεέμ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank and a hub of Palestinian cultural and...

We learn further from Cassian the reason that led to the institution of this office. The office of the night, comprising Matins and Lauds, ended then at sunrise, so that Lauds corresponded to the dawn. After the night offices at Bethlehem, as in the other Palestinian monasteries, the monks might retire to rest. As no other office called them together before Terce, those who were lazy seized the opportunity of prolonging their sleep till nine in the morning, instead of applying themselves to manual work or spiritual reading. To end this abuse, it was decided, in the above monastery, to continue the custom of reposing after the night office, but, to prevent an undue prolongation of sleep, the monks were recalled to choir at the hour of Prime, and after the recital of a few psalms they were to work until Terce (Cassian, "Instit.", III, iv). All this is established by authentic texts. The only difficulty is that some contemporaries of Cassian or even his predecessors, as [Eusebius of Caesarea]], St. Jerome, St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, speak of an office recited at sunrise, and which therefore would seem to be identical with Prime. But it must be noted that they are speaking of Lauds, which in some communities was recited later, and so was identified with the hour but not with the subject matter of Prime. 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. ... The Church of the Nativity, a Bethlehem Landmark Bethlehem (Arabic بيت لحم ▶ (help· info) house of meat; Standard Hebrew בית לחם house of bread, Bet léḥem / Bet láḥem; Tiberian Hebrew Bêṯ léḥem / Bêṯ lāḥem) (Greek: Βηθλεέμ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank and a hub of Palestinian cultural and... Terce is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church. ... , by Albrecht Dürer Saint Jerome (ca. ... Basil (ca. ... John Chrysostom (347 - 407) was a notable Christian bishop and preacher from the 4th and 5th centuries in Syria and Constantinople. ...

CONTENTS

The matter composing the new hour was drawn from the office of Lauds; or rather Prime, as an office, was a repetition of part of Lauds, and added nothing to the ensemble of the psalmody, only Psalms i, lxii, and lxxxix, which were formerly part of Lauds, were recited at this hour. Such at least was the original composition of Prime; but the monasteries which gradually adopted it in the East and in the West changed its constitution as they liked. It is impossible to describe here all the variations this office underwent in the different liturgies. We need only remark that one of the most characteristic features of Prime is the recitation of the famous symbol "Quicumque vult salvus esse", called the Athanasian Creed, which has recently been the subject of much controversy in the Anglican Church. St. Benedict orders to be recited at Prime on Sundays four groups of eight verses of Ps. cxviii; on week-days, three psalms, beginning with the first and continuing to Ps. xix, taking three psalms each day (Ps. ix and xvii being divided into two). In that way Prime is symmetrical, like the other short hours of the day. It resembles these also in composition, the psalmody being accompanied by a hymn, an antiphon, capitulum, versicle, and prayer. In the Roman Liturgy the office of Prime is not composed so symmetrically. Usually it consists of Ps. liii, cvii, the first four groups of eight verses of Ps. cxvii, and during the week Pss. liii, xxiii, xxv, xxiv, xxii, and xxi. The capitulum and other elements are after the model of the short hours (cf. NONE). Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... The Athanasian Creed (Quicunque vult) is a statement of Christian doctrine traditionally ascribed to St. ... The Anglican Communion is a world-wide organisation of Anglican Churches. ... This article is about Saint Benedict of Nursia, for other uses of the name Benedict see Benedict (disambiguation) Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. ... A hymn is a song specifically written as a song of praise, adoration or prayer, typically addressed to a god. ... This article is about the musical term. ... Latin Rite, in the singular and accompanied, in English, by the definite article, refers to the sui juris particular Church of the Roman Catholic Church that developed in the area of western Europe and northern Africa where Latin was for many centuries the language of education and culture. ... The Little Hours are the fixed daytime hours of prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

THE OFFICE OF THE CHAPTER

So far we have spoken only of the office of Prime properly so called, which ends like the other short hours. It is followed by some prayers which are called the office of the chapter, and are composed in the Roman Liturgy of the reading of the martyrology, of a prayer, "Sancta Maria et omnes sancti", a prayer concerning work, "Respice in servos tuos . . . Dirigere et sanctificare", and a blessing. This addition to Prime is a legacy bequeathed by the monks to the secular clergy. As has been said above, originally after Prime the monks had to betake themselves to manual work or reading. The office therefore ended with a prayer for their work ". . . et opera manuum nostrarum dirige super nos et opus manuum nostrarum dirige", and the prayer "Dirigere". Later the reading of the martyrology, the necrology, the rule, and a prayer for the dead were added (see Baümer-Biron, loc. cit., I, 361-62). A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs, or, more exactly, of saints, arranged in the order of their anniversaries. ... A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ... Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. ...

In view of its origin and constitution, Prime is to be considered as the prayer of the beginning of the day, whereas Lauds is devoted to recalling with the dawn the memory of Christ's Resurrection, Prime is the morning hour which consecrates all the work of the day. Its institution has made the liturgical day more regular and symmetrical. Prime, until then without an office, received its psalmody like Terce, Sext, None, Vespers. With Compline and Lauds, the liturgical day reached the sacred septenary, "septies in die laudem dixi tibi". While for the night office there was the text: "media nocte surgebam ad confitendum tibi". Terce is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church. ... 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. ... Lauds is one of the two major hours in the Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Hours. ...

This article incorporates text from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Catholic Encyclopedia (also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia today) is an English-language encyclopedia published in 1913 by the The Encyclopedia Press, designed to give authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine. // History The writing of the encyclopedia began on January 11...