The Night Hours are the fixed times of prayer in the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church, that take place after sunset and before sunrise. In the Latin Rite, the main Office is traditionally Matins, said in the early hours of the morning, and which is joined to the office of Lauds, which is concluded shortly before dawn. Vespers, traditionally said just after sunset, and Compline, said immediately before retiring to bed, are also sometimes considered to be part of the Night Hours. The Eastern Christian Churches, including both Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, have a similar structure of night prayer, but the terminology is usually different. Some Protestant communities have similar prayer times.
The contents of these prayer offices vary greatly with season, day of week, and feast days, which is unlike the Daytime Hours, which tend to be invariable. The offices consist of a hymn, psalms and canticles with antiphons, versicles, readings from scripture, Fathers of the Church, Councils of the Church, lives of the Saints, etc., and specific prayers.
Read more about Night Hours: Latin Rite Catholic Usage
Famous quotes containing the words night and/or hours:
“All night in the unmade park
After the railings and shrubberies
The birds the grass the trees the lake
And the wild boys innocent as strawberries
Had followed the hunchback
To his kennel in the dark.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“I sometimes left a good fire when I went to take a walk in a winter afternoon; and when I returned, three or four hours afterward, it would be still alive and glowing. My house was not empty though I was gone. It was as if I had left a cheerful housekeeper behind. It was I and Fire that lived there; and commonly my housekeeper proved trustworthy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)