Information About ™Lauds |
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STRUCTURE OF THE HOUR Since the Second Vatican Council , Lauds has the following structure:
All psalms and canticles are closed with the Doxology , "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was is the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen." (The current translation of the U.S. Bishop s' Conference, given here, differs from the traditional English translation used in other countries.) The psalms and readings are distributed in a four-week cycle, which forms the heart of the prayer. Daily Lauds may be said here. VARIATIONS On Feast Day s, the various parts of the hour may be taken from the office of the Saint being celebrated or from common texts for the saints. If the feast has the rank of "memorial", any parts specifically provided for the saint (the "proper" parts) are used, while the other parts come from the weekday, with exception of the hymn (which may be optionally taken from the common texts), the antiphon for the ''Benedictus'' (which must be taken from the proper or the common), the intercession (which may be optionally taken from the common texts), and the closing prayer (which should be proper, or if missing, common). For a "feast" or , the hymn O Salutaris Hostia is sung. In the important seasons of the Church year, such as Lent or Easter , many of the prayers are proper for each day of the season. In Lent, Christmas , Holy Week , Easter Week, and the last eight days of Advent , celebration of feast days is somewhat restricted. On some of these days, a memorial may be celebrated as a "commemoration", adding an extra prayer at the end of the hour, while on others the memorial is completely removed from the calendar. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF LAUDS BEFORE THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL ''This section incorporates information from the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1917. References to Psalms follow the numbering system of the Septuagint , and said in the Latin of the Vulgate .'' The term Lauds and the hour of the office The word ''Lauds'' (''i.e.'' praises) explains the particular character of this office, the end of which is to praise God. All the Canonical Hours have, of course, the same object, but Lauds may be said to have this characteristic ''par excellence''. The name is certainly derived from the three last Psalm s in the office (148, 149, 150), in all of which the word ''laudate'' is repeated frequently, and to such an extent that originally the word Lauds designated not, as it does nowadays, the whole office, but only the end, that is to say, these three psalms with the conclusion. The title ''Ainoi'' (praises) has been retained in Greek. St. Benedict also employs this term to designate the last three psalms; ''post haec'' the Canticle ''sequantur Laudes'' ('' Regula '', cap. xiii). In the 5th Century and 6th Century the Office of the Lauds was called ''Matutinum'', which has now become the special name of another office, the Night Office or Vigils , a term no longer used (see MATINS ). Little by little the title Lauds was applied to the whole office, and supplanted the name of Matins. In the ancient authors, however, from the 4th Century to the 6th or 7th Century , the names ''Matutinum'', ''Laudes matutinae'', or ''Matutini hymni'', are used to designate the office of daybreak or dawn, the Office of Matins retaining its name of Vigils. The reason of this confusion of names is, perhaps, that originally Matins and Lauds formed but a single office, the Night Office terminating only at dawn. In the liturgy, the word Lauds has two other meanings: It sometimes signifies the and before the Gospel " (for this interpretation compare Mabillon , "''De Liturgia gall.''", I, iv). St. Isidore says: "''Laudes, hoc est, Alleluia, canere''" (''De div. offic.'', xiii). The word Lauds also designates the public acclamations which were sung or shouted at the accession of princes, a custom which was for a long time observed in the Christian Church on certain occasions. The office in various liturgies In the actual '', xiii). To these canticles the Roman Liturgy adds, as the finale to this office, that of , and also in the Mozarabic , Lauds retain a few of the principal elements of the Roman Lauds -- the ''Benedictus'', canticles from the Old Testament, and the psalms cxlviii, cxlix, cl, arranged, however, in a different order (''cf.'' Dom G. Morin, ''op. cit.'' in bibliography). In the Benedictine Liturgy, the Office of Lauds resembles the Roman Lauds very closely, not only in its use of the canticles which St. Benedict admits, as we have already remarked, but also in its general construction. The Greek office corresponding to that of Lauds is the ''orthos'', which also signifies "morning"; its composition is different, but it nevertheless retains a few elements of the Western Lauds -- notably the canticles and the three psalms, cxlviii-cl, which in the Greek Liturgy bear the name ''Ainoi'' or Praises, corresponding to the Latin word ''Laudes'' (''cf.'' "''Dict. d'archeol. chret. et de lit.''", s.v. ''Ainoi''; "''Horologion''", Rome, 1876, p. 55). Lauds in the early Christian ages and their origin Lauds, or, to speak more precisely, the Morning Office or Office of Aurora corresponding to Lauds, is incontestably one of the most ancient offices and can be traced back to and the Irish documents give us only very vague information on the Office of Lauds (''cf.'' "''Regula S. Columbani''", c. vii, "''De cursu psalmorum''" in P. L., LXXX, 212). An effort has been made to reconstruct it in accordance with the Antiphonary Of Bangor , but this document, in our opinion, gives us but an extract, and not the complete office (''cf.'' Cabrol in "''Dict. d'archéol. et de lit.''", s. v. ''Bangor, Antiphonaire de''). St. Gregory Of Tours also makes several allusions to this office, which he calls ''Matutini hymni''; he give us, as its constitutive parts, psalm 1, the Benedicite, the three psalms, cxlviii-cl, and the veriscles ("''Hist. Francorum''", II, vii, in P. L., LXXI, 201, 256, 1034 etc. ''Cf.'' Bäumer-Biron, "''Hist. du brev. Rom.''", I, 229-30). At an earlier period than that of the fifth and fourth centuries, we find various descriptions of the Morning Office in John Cassian , in Melania The Younger , in the "''Peregrinatio Ætheriae''", St. John Chrysostom , St. Hilary , Eusebius (Bäumer-Biron, ''op. cit.'', I, 81, 114, 134, 140, 150-68, 208, 210). Naturally, in proportion as we advance, greater varieties of the form of the Office are found in the different Christian provinces. The general features, however, remain the same; it is the office of the dawn (''Aurora''), the office of sunrise, the morning office, the morning praises, the office of cock-crow (''Gallicinium, ad galli cantus''), the office of the Resurrection of Christ. Nowhere better than at Jerusalem , in the "''Peregrinatio Ætheriae''", does this office, celebrated at the very tomb of Christ, preserve its local colour. The author calls it ''hymni matutinales''; it is considered the principal office of the day. There the liturgy displays all its pomps; the Bishop used to be present with all his Clergy , the office being celebrated around the Grotto Of The Holy Sepulchre itself; after the psalms and canticles had been sung, the litanies were chanted, and the bishop then blessed the people. (''Cf.'' Dom Cabrol, "''Etude sur la Peregrinatio Silviae, les Eglises de Jerusalem, la discipline et la liturgie au IVX siecle''", Paris, 1895, pp. 39, 40. For the East ''cf.'' "''De Virginitate''", xx, in P G., XXVIII, 275.) Lastly, we again find the first traces of Lauds in the third, and even in the second, century in the Canons Of Hippolytus , in St. Cyprian , and even in the Apostolic Fathers, so much so that Bäumer does not hesitate to assert that Lauds together with Vespers are the most ancient office, and owe their origin to the Apostles (Bäumer-Biron, op. cit., I, 58; cf. 56, 57, 64, 72 etc.). Symbolism and reason of this office It is easy to conclude from the preceding what were the motives which gave rise to this office, and what its signification is. For a Christian the first thought which should present itself to the mind in the morning, is the thought of God; the first act of his day should be a prayer. The first gleam of dawn recalls to our minds that Christ is the true Light, that He comes to dispel spiritual darkness, and to reign over the world. It was at dawn that Christ rose from the tomb, Conqueror of Death and of the Night. It is this thought of His Resurrection which gives to this office its whole signification. Lastly, this tranquil hour, before day has commenced, and man has again plunged into the torrent of cares, is the most favourable to contemplation and prayer. Liturgically, the elements of Lauds have been most harmoniously combined, and it has preserved its significance better than other Hours. LAUDS IN OTHER CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS Like the other Canonical Hours , Lauds is observed by Catholic Christians in other denominations, notably those of the Anglican Communion . Elements of the office have been folded into the Prayer Book service of Morning Prayer , and the hour itself is observed by many Anglican Religious Order s. |
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