Questions about the Angelus

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Okay, so I have a few questions about the Angelus that I will try to squeeze into one thread.
  1. Must the Angelus be recited at 6 AM, 12 noon, and 6 PM, and kneeling?
2)The Angelus is recited standing on Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday noon, and Sunday night?

3)Or is the Regina Coeli recited on during those times, plus during the Easter season?

I apologise for having so many questions, but in learning about this wonderful prayer I have seen all kinds of stuff written, so I wanted to get this straightened out. :o
 
CruceSignati said:
Okay, so I have a few questions about the Angelus that I will try to squeeze into one thread.
  1. Must the Angelus be recited at 6 AM, 12 noon, and 6 PM, and kneeling?
2)The Angelus is recited standing on Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday noon, and Sunday night?

3)Or is the Regina Coeli recited on during those times, plus during the Easter season?

I apologise for having so many questions, but in learning about this wonderful prayer I have seen all kinds of stuff written, so I wanted to get this straightened out. :o
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  1. I have an Angelus prayer card, the instructions say: “…the customary three times every day—morning, noon, and evening,…”. There is no set time other than generally morning, noon, evening. I don’t kneel.
  2. This I don’t know. However, when I join Father M and our Parish Office staff for morning prayers, the Angelus is prayed while seated. I imagine, you can stand if you feel you should.
  3. According to the instructions on my Angelus prayer card, Regina Coeli is prayed from Easter Sunday through Pentecost Sunday. No other time is mentioned.
 
As to whether or stand or kneel, I say let tradition be your guide (see the picture).



However, its customary to genuflect at the words “The Word was made flesh,” if you can.

I’m not sure about the Regina Coeli thing. I know it changes seasonally in the Office, but the thrice-daily Angelus isn’t part of the office, it’s a pious devotion, so I doubt the same structure applies. That’s just my 2 cents, though.
 
CruceSignati said:
Okay, so I have a few questions about the Angelus that I will try to squeeze into one thread.
  1. Must the Angelus be recited at 6 AM, 12 noon, and 6 PM, and kneeling?
2)The Angelus is recited standing on Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday noon, and Sunday night?

3)Or is the Regina Coeli recited on during those times, plus during the Easter season?

I apologise for having so many questions, but in learning about this wonderful prayer I have seen all kinds of stuff written, so I wanted to get this straightened out. :o
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  1. “Must” is not the correct word. It is customary to do so, and bells are rung in some places to remind Catholics to do so. However, since this is a private devotion, you are free to do as you wish. When you get up, midday and before dinner might also be considered within the spirit of this custom, if that is what you are trying to accomplish and your schedule is different than that of others.
  2. This one is new to me. I have always seen it prayed it standing, genuflecting at the words “And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us,” regardless of the day of week. I an see the purpose of what you describe, if on the other days it is said kneeling.
  3. Again, this is a private devotion (though one frequently sees it done publicly), and one is therefore free to do as one chooses. However, traditionally the Regina Caeli is recited in placed of the Angelus during Easter season, from Easter Day through Pentecost.
 
The last reply is what I understood.

The Holy Father introduces the angelus on a Sunday with an exhortation or address.
Is this custom followed anywhere else? It seems a good precedent, and a helpful for focus for prayer.

When is the best time for coffee?
 
At the very orthodox abbey that I’m associated with, the Angelus is said:
  1. immediately after Vigils, which is approximately 5:50 am (or just after 6 am on Sundays and feasts as there’s a 3d nocturne)
  2. immediately after Sext which is just after the conventual Mass, or at around noon
  3. after the Marian antiphon at Compline, which is approximately 8 pm.
The monks recite it silently while standing, with a bell marking each mystery, and the end.
 
CruceSignati said:
Okay, so I have a few questions about the Angelus that I will try to squeeze into one thread.
  1. Must the Angelus be recited at 6 AM, 12 noon, and 6 PM, and kneeling?
2)The Angelus is recited standing on Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday noon, and Sunday night?

3)Or is the Regina Coeli recited on during those times, plus during the Easter season?

I apologise for having so many questions, but in learning about this wonderful prayer I have seen all kinds of stuff written, so I wanted to get this straightened out. :o
Click to expand...
  1. The Angelus can be recited at any time and it isn’t obligatory however it is traditionally said at those times: sunrise (6am), noon, sunset (6pm)
  2. I think the Angelus can be said kneeling or standing but it is more customary to say it kneeling
  3. The Regina Coeli is said during the Easter season (50 days from easter sunday to Pentecost)
 
Okay thanks for all the responses everyone! This helps a lot. 🙂

God bless!
 
CruceSignati said:
Okay, so I have a few questions about the Angelus that I will try to squeeze into one thread.
  1. Must the Angelus be recited at 6 AM, 12 noon, and 6 PM, and kneeling?
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My experience has been that someone discussing the timing of the Angelus will usually mention those specific times, but I agree with the others who’ve posted so far: these times and a default posture of kneeling are not exact requirements.

The most recent Enchiridion of Indulgences (1999), available in Latin at the Vatican website, uses the phrasing “primo diluculo, vel meridiano tempore, vel sub vesperam,” which is more general language than “at six in the morning…” Correct me if I’ve overlooked it, but I also don’t see a prescribed posture.

If these conditions are good enough to obtain the indulgence, they should be good enough even if you somehow don’t intend to obtain one.

The old Catholic Encyclopedia (1908) article on the Diario Romano, an annual booklet published “with papal authorization” that gave times for ecclesiastical events in Rome, also mentions a practice that is not an unchanging time of day throughout the year:
A table is then given for the ringing of the bell for evening Angelus, which varies with the time of sunset, and ranges from 5.15 p.m. to 8.15 p.m.
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Although this practice appeared over a hundred years ago in Rome (which is not necessarily where you, the reader, are), it’s not forbidden in our day, and you (the reader) can do something similar with the time of sunset–and sunrise and maybe even solar noon? ;)–in your own location.

I can see advantages for a few different ways of timing the Angelus (the usual fixed times, your own equivalent fixed times, changing seasonal times…), depending on a number of possible factors.
CruceSignati said:
2)The Angelus is recited standing on Saturday night, Sunday morning, Sunday noon, and Sunday night?
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I’ve heard of this practice, though I don’t know where, and I typically follow it.

This is probably not where I heard of it, but the same Catholic Encyclopedia mentions the practice in its article on the Angelus:
Originally it was necessary that the Angelus should be said kneeling (except on Sundays and on Saturday evenings, when the rubrics prescribe a standing posture), and also that it should be said at the sound of the bell; but more recent legislation allows these conditions to be dispensed with for any sufficient reason, provided the prayer be said approximately at the proper hours, i.e. in the early morning, or about the hour of noon, or towards evening.
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And this phrasing sounds like what we see today.
 
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