Section — Gury-Ballerini, Compendium of Moral Theology (8th ed., 1884)
§ IV. On the Recitation of the Canonical Hours or Divine Office
- The canonical Hours are said to be a collection of prayers and readings to be recited at certain hours on individual days by persons deputed to this. Hence the Hours are also called 1º Divine Office, because it is recited in honor of God; 2º ecclesiastical Office, because it is paid in the name of the Church; 3º canonical Office, because it must be recited according to the rules of the Canons; 4º Breviary, because that Office is a compendium of the old and new Testament, and also of the sentences of the Fathers and the lives of the Saints.
The origin of the Divine Office as to substance seems to be derived from the very times of the Apostles, as is gathered from various places in the Acts of the Apostles, from the testimonies of the Fathers, and from various documents.
In the course of times the form and quantity of the Breviary was varied. The Council of Trent, sess. 25, at the end, commanded that a new reform of the Roman Breviary be made. St. Pius V corrected it, increased it by some additions, and by the Bull Quod a Nobis, 7 July 1568, prohibited all other Breviaries which from institution or legitimate custom did not surpass 200 years. Nevertheless in France the custom unhappily grew strong that most Bishops would have and change their own proper Breviaries 1. For a long time the Church was silent because of the calamities of the times, so that she was believed to tolerate this custom. But in these most recent times, according to the various circumstances of things, she has kindly opened her mind, and thence the pious Mother rejoicing sees almost all Bishops eagerly returning to liturgical unity.
1 ** This custom is owed in no small part to the artifices of the old Jansenists, who, having undertaken to disturb the order of the ecclesiastical hierarchy for the subversion of the Church, attributed to individual Bishops for their own Diocese the plenitude of power by which the Roman Pontiff prevails over the universal Church.
The whole Divine Office is divided into seven Hours, namely Matins with Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline.
One must treat 1º of the obligation of the Breviary; 2º of the time established for recitation of the Hours; 3º of the manner of reciting them; 4º of causes excusing from recitation.