A Short History on the Liturgy of the Hours

[Aureole]

I thought that it would be helpful for people interested in the Liturgy of the Hours to get to know a bit of the history for it. Admittedly, this history is brief, but it provides a good introduction for those who are curious about the Divine Office and it may surprise some “veterans” as well.

I’m still fairly new to the Divine Office but I found this particular part of the history to be interesting:

The division of the day into these groupings is not arbitrary, but rather reflects events recorded in Scripture. Night prayer corresponds to the night Jesus spent in prayer in the garden of Gethsemene before his crucifixion. Terce, the Roman third hour of the day (9:00am) recalls Jesus’ death sentence. Sext, the Roman sixth hour (noon) is the hour of the Crucifixion (Luke 23:3344). Nones, the Roman ninth hour (3:00pm) recalls Jesus last utterance and his death (Matt 27:46).

You can, of course, find a much lengthier history on New Advent. It doesn’t include post-Vatican II reforms though, but that’s to be expected from a 100 year old encyclopædia.