Article Fourth. On the Mode of Reciting the Divine Office (continued)

766. On recitation with a companion or in choir. 1. It is lawful to recite the divine office with a companion, even if he is not held to the office.

Recitation with a companion must imitate recitation in choir; therefore a. it is required that they recite by alternate turns, not by threefold turns, that is, that on one side there be one or more and on the other likewise one or more; but it is not lawful so to recite that one says the first verse, another the second, a third the third; b. the antiphons and verses of the psalms must be said alternately, as order demands; c. all the lessons can be read by one while the rest listen, or also alternately; d. the chapters and prayers are said by one who performs, as it were, the office of the officiant.

2. It is required that they hear one another distinctly: for in order that anyone satisfy the obligation, he must either recite himself or hear one reciting. If the companion is not held to the office, it is indeed required that he who is not held be heard by the other; but it is not required that he himself hear the other reciting.

a. Therefore a deaf man who hears nothing cannot validly recite the office with a companion; and he who, although he could, nevertheless does not hear the companion reciting does not satisfy his obligation, whatever be the cause on account of which he does not hear the companion, whether noise or deafness. Therefore he is held to repeat the office, or at least to supply the part not perceived.

b. He who does not perceive only some things (one or another verse or lesson) satisfies the obligation and is not held to supply anything, provided he tries to hear the other, because, says St. Alphonsus (n. 163), through the companionship and at the same time through that application of his own, he is judged morally to communicate in the prayer, so that the prayer which the other pours forth is also his own.

Hence one reciting in choir, who while others are reciting must prepare something in choir, is not held to repeat what he did not perceive, even if he had not heard an entire psalm.

c. In order that a deaf man who is obliged to choir satisfy the obligation of reciting the office, he must afterward supply the omitted part, namely that which he did not perceive, or better, while it is being sung by the other side, recite it in a low voice.

d. He who plays the organ while the divine office is sung in choir does not satisfy the obligation unless he at least recites or sings the verse of one part. And where the office is so sung that to the verse which the whole choir sings only the organ responds alternately, the whole choir does not satisfy the obligation unless someone from the choir pronounces or sings in a clear voice that which is to be answered by the organ.¹

3. Recitation must be so arranged that one does not begin his verse unless the other has completed his: for the prayer prescribed by the Church is by its nature successive.

a. Therefore if those things which are uttered at the same time constitute a notable part, grave sin is committed, unless the whole office is repeated or at least an equivalent part is supplied.

b. One reciting the office with a companion who clips the final syllables, yet without the sense being notably corrupted, satisfies the obligation and is not held to repeat, although he sins venially; but if the clipping is great, so that the sense in a notable quantity is corrupted, it is a grave sin and either the part viciously pronounced or an equivalent part must be repeated, if that part by itself does not yield a sense.

4. Recitation by a companion that is too swift and headlong, but especially singing in choir that is too hurried, so that the others cannot distinctly perceive everything, is ordinarily a venial sin, because he who perceives only some things does satisfy the obligation as to substance.

¹ Caerem. ep. l. 1, c. 28, n. 6.

767. The due intention is the intention of reciting the prescribed office, or of praising and praying to God through recitation of the office; and this intention is had by the very fact that one deliberately takes up the breviary in order to recite the office.

Although the actual intention of praying, elicited at least implicitly at the beginning and then virtually persevering through the course of the prayer, is altogether necessary in order that the recitation of the office be prayer and not reading, nevertheless there is no need to doubt the existence of the due intention, provided the recitation is not explicitly ordered to another end.

768. The attention required is external attention: for neither from the nature of the matter nor from the precept of the Church is a more perfect attention required than external attention, or the exclusion of any external action impeding internal attention.¹

a. There are external actions which gravely or notably impede internal attention, and others which impede it only lightly. The former must be excluded under grave obligation during recitation of the divine office, the latter under light obligation; but from a just cause actions lightly impeding attention can licitly be admitted. Actions of the former kind are: painting, writing, listening with great attention to others speaking, reading attentively, attentively considering images or statues, etc. Actions of the latter kind are: putting on or taking off clothes, washing the hands, looking at the countryside, fields, meadows, mountains, buildings, tending the fire, etc. Yet if one knew by experience that he is not gravely distracted by actions of the former kind, he would not be held to avoid them under grave obligation, scandal being excluded; and in like manner, if one knew by experience that he is notably distracted by actions of the latter kind, he would be held to avoid them under grave obligation.

b. Since prayer without internal attention can exist as to substance, the obligation of internal attention would have to arise from a grave precept of the Church. Those who affirm this obligation in fact appeal to the Lateran Council under Innocent III, which commands clerics in virtue of obedience to "celebrate the divine office zealously and devoutly alike."² But to one reading the cited chapter it will at once be evident that the supreme pontiff commands nothing other than devotion or external attention against those who, while reciting in choir, were chatting with secular persons.³

¹ Cf. n. 139.

² C. Dolentes 9, De celebr. miss. (III. 41).

³ Cf. Lehmkuhl II, n. 633. Burghaber, Casuum conscientiae centuriae tres, cent. I, n. 21.

769. Integrally. In order that the office be recited integrally, two things are required: a. that the whole office be recited, with no part of it omitted; b. that the individual words be pronounced without mutilation or truncation.

a. To the integrity of the office belong the Pater, Ave, and Credo at the beginning and end of the office; but the prayer Aperi and Sacrosanctae do not belong to it, although these prayers are nevertheless piously and usefully added.

b. Therefore he who omits a notable part sins gravely; he who omits a non-notable part sins lightly. What part is judged notable has been defined above (757).

c. If the truncation of words is so great that the sense is changed, and this in a notable part, grave fault is committed and the part not recited integrally must be repeated; yet truncation of words rarely involves grave fault. But it is free from all fault if it happens from a natural defect of a stammering mouth or a hurrying tongue, or if it happens from inveterate custom.

770. Continuously, that is, without interruption. A twofold interruption must be distinguished, one between one hour and another hour, the other between the parts of the same hour. No interruption, however great, is a grave sin, provided the whole office is recited within the space of the same day, because even a notable interruption does not prevent satisfaction being made for the substance of the obligation. Yet a notable interruption which is made without cause between certain parts of the office is a venial sin; but an interruption which is made from a just cause, even if notable and in the same hour, is free from all fault, nor must the earlier parts be repeated in this case, because individual psalms and verses have a complete signification and are sufficiently united by the intention of continuing.

a. Therefore there is no obligation after an interruption to repeat the psalm or lesson from its beginning, even if the interruption had been made without cause, for a long time, or with the intention of repeating the earlier parts; but the recitation can be continued where it had been interrupted, provided the verse or an entire proposition had been completed before the interruption.

b. Since recitation of the hours must be continuous, it is not of itself lawful to begin an hour with foreseen future interruption: for an interruption of this kind would be voluntary in its cause. Yet since a reasonable cause excuses from this precept, confessors do not sin who recite part of an hour in the confessional while they are waiting for a penitent, in order to spare time.

1. Lauds can be separated from Matins even without cause and for a longer time.

a. Therefore nothing prevents Matins from being separated from Lauds even by an entire night: for although Matins and Lauds constitute one hour, nevertheless custom has made it lawful that between Lauds and Matins (but not between the individual nocturns) the whole space of the night can intervene even without cause. The reason seems to be that Lauds in a more perfect way constitutes a part complete in itself than the individual nocturns do, and therefore there is a greater connection among these than between Matins and Lauds.

b. From the prescription of the rubric, the Pater must be added as often as, after an hour has been completed, one ceases from recitation. But if Matins is separated from Lauds, Matins must be concluded in the way in which, from the prescription of the rubric, it is concluded on the night of the Nativity of the Lord, on which Mass is celebrated immediately after Matins, namely after the prayer of the day there is added: Dominus vobiscum, Benedicamus, Fidelium.¹ But it is not necessary that before Lauds separated from Matins the Pater and Ave be said.

2. The nocturns can be separated from one another without cause at least by the space of three hours, because in ancient times they used to be separated in this way, and now no law exists which prohibits this. And indeed any nocturn constitutes a part of the office complete in itself after the manner of a little hour, of which one can licitly be separated from another. From a reasonable cause a nocturn can be separated from a nocturn for even a longer time, for example, for an entire night.

3. The little hours can be separated from one another even without cause and for a longer time, because each of them constitutes a part complete in itself.

According to St. Alphonsus (n. 168), just causes of interrupting an hour or psalm are: one's own or another's utility, courtesy, devotion, execution of a superior's commands, hearing of confession, etc. Therefore the office can licitly be interrupted in order to note something down, so that the cause of distractions may be removed, or to elicit a pious affection of heart, or to recite a short (but not a longer) prayer.

¹ S.C.R., Feb. 1, 1886, n. 3653.

771. In order, that is, without inversion of the prescribed order. A twofold order is to be observed in the recitation of the office: the order of offices already explained above, which the calendar describes, and the order of the hours. The prescribed order of the hours is that first Matins and Lauds be recited, then Prime, Terce, Sext, and None, and finally Vespers and Compline.

1. This precept does not oblige under grave obligation, because it does not refer to the substance of the office, but only to an accidental circumstance. Therefore inversion of order among the several hours of the same office, indeed even inversion of order among the parts of the same hour, is only venial; and if it happens from a reasonable cause, it is no sin.

A reasonable cause of this kind is judged to be present: a. if someone who does not have the breviary at hand recites the hours before Matins; b. if someone who does not have the lessons at hand meanwhile recites the psalms of Matins and Lauds, or indeed even the little hours, and postpones the lessons; c. if someone is invited by another to recite the hours when he has not yet recited Matins; d. if someone comes late to choir, when one hour has already been entirely finished or already begun. In this case he licitly, indeed laudably, continues to sing psalms with the others in choir, afterward reciting the omitted hour or part of an hour.¹

2. To recite Matins of the following day when Vespers of the present day have not yet been discharged, according to the opinion of some, is venial, and if it happens from a reasonable cause, is no sin; but according to the opinion of others it is never a sin, because the office of one day has no order with the office of another day.

3. Not to recite commemorations in the order designated by the rubric is not a sin, because this rubric is not preceptive but directive.

¹ De Herdt, Prax. pontif. t. 1, n. 242.

772. In the due place and posture. 1. Public recitation of the office must be done in choir; but for private recitation no determinate place is prescribed by the Church; therefore any place can be chosen which is judged apt for the due recitation of the office, although a sacred place is more fitting than others.

Therefore he is not free from venial fault who without a just cause recites the office in a place which, on account of the crowd of people, noise, or other circumstances, impedes due attention.

2. Likewise no bodily posture is prescribed by the Church for private recitation of the office. Therefore it is not required that the office be recited on bended knees, but it can be recited standing, sitting, walking, or even, when a reasonable cause exists, lying in bed. Therefore not only a sick person, but also a healthy person who passes a sleepless night can recite the office while lying in bed. The rubrics which prescribe certain bodily postures refer to recitation of the office in choir. The same must be said of the rubrics which prescribe other signs, such as inclinations, genuflections, the sign of the cross, etc. Although therefore there is no obligation of observing these in private recitation, nevertheless they are laudably observed even outside choir.

773. At the fixed time, which is determined either by written law or by custom.

1. He satisfies the precept as to substance who recites the whole office within the space of one natural day, that is, from midnight of one day until midnight of the following day. When this time has elapsed, no one can any longer satisfy his obligation: for the office is the burden of the day, whose obligation begins and ends with the natural day.

According to the mind of the Church, in recitation of the office each one at his own discretion can follow either true solar time or the time of his own place, whether it is mean time or legal time.¹ Since, therefore, legal time, which has been introduced almost everywhere, in some regions follows true time by half an hour and more, there at least half an hour before the second legal hour it is lawful to anticipate Matins.

2. To the individual parts of the office time has been assigned in such a way that Matins with Lauds, Prime, and Terce must be recited before midday, Vespers and Compline after midday; but Sext and None can be recited both before and after midday. Yet this designation of time, since it does not belong to the substance of the office, does not oblige under grave obligation; wherefore from a reasonable cause recitation can licitly either forestall this time or be deferred to a later time.

a. In Lent (except the first three days and Sundays), in choir Vespers, but not Compline, must be said before midday in memory of the ancient discipline according to which the fast was not broken before the recitation of Vespers. But in private recitation they can be recited at pleasure either before or after midday. But if they are recited before midday, there is no reason for affirming that they must be recited before the eleventh hour. Certainly they can be recited at the time at which they are accustomed to be recited in choir, that is, after the conventual Mass, which nevertheless is not celebrated everywhere at the same time. Indeed nothing prevents them from being recited privately already in the morning before Mass.

b. The individual hours were formerly recited at this time: Matins after midnight, Lauds at dawn, Prime after sunrise, Terce in the morning at the ninth hour, Sext at midday, None after the third hour in the afternoon, Vespers at sunset, Compline at the twilight of night.²

c. Therefore he who without cause defers Matins or Prime or Terce to the afternoon, or without cause recites Vespers and Compline before midday, sins venially. A reasonable cause of either forestalling or deferring recitation is the danger of an occupation about to supervene, greater devotion, a time more apt for studies, indeed even greater convenience; therefore the whole office can be deferred to the afternoon if the forenoon is more apt for continuing studies.

3. Matins with Lauds privately, from legitimate custom, can be anticipated, that is, recited on the preceding day; but it is not lawful for it to be anticipated publicly in choir. But if it is recited before the time assigned for anticipation, it must be repeated, because the precept cannot be satisfied before it obliges.

a. The faculty of anticipating the office is a privilege, and since of itself no one is held to use a privilege, he who foresees that on the following day he will be impeded from reciting the office is not held to anticipate Matins with Lauds.

b. In order that Matins can be habitually anticipated in choir, an indult of the Holy See is required, which has been granted to many churches; the bishop can only permit that it be anticipated for a time from a just cause.

4. From the rubric of the missal, Matins with Lauds must be recited before Mass.³

Some teach that this rubric obliges under grave obligation (St. Antoninus), others under light obligation (St. Alphonsus), others judge that it is not preceptive but merely directive, because Matins does not contain a necessary disposition for the celebration of Mass, and because the connection between Matins and Mass (which St. Alphonsus thinks to be none) is not so great that Matins must be said before Mass (Ballerini). Although the rubrics urge this matter twice, nevertheless, since there is not sufficient certainty about a true precept, in practice this is not to be established.

¹ S. Poenitent., Nov. 29, 1882; S.C.C., July 23, 1893.

² Cf. Baeumer, l.c., p. 180.

³ Missale rom., Rit. serv. I, n. 1; De def. X, n. 1.

774. At what hour Matins can be anticipated. 1. With all agreeing, Matins with Lauds can be anticipated from legitimate custom when the sun holds the middle of its course between midday and sunset. And since this time varies, tables are usually drawn up (inserted in the directory) by which the suitable time for anticipating the office at different times of the year is indicated. This time is placed between the second hour (in the month of December) and the fourth hour (in the month of June) in the afternoon.

2. From the probable opinion of many doctors, validly and at least from a reasonable cause also licitly, Matins with Lauds can be recited privately at any time of year at the second hour in the afternoon, even without privilege.¹ This opinion is confirmed from the responses of the Holy See, which, when often questioned concerning this matter, has so far been unwilling to settle the question, but has referred it to approved authors, of whom many hold this opinion. Therefore at any time of year it can be anticipated at the second hour, until the Holy See shall determine otherwise.

a. The authors assign the internal reason of this opinion in this way. In the course of time it came about that Matins with Lauds, which at the beginning used to be recited at night, was already recited on the preceding day, and indeed in the evening or after sunset. Gradually, however, the custom prevailed of anticipating the office not when evening time ends but when it begins, that is, when the sun, having the middle of its course between midday and sunset, begins to incline toward sunset. Finally custom brought it about that Matins was recited when the evening time began, not of the natural day but of the ecclesiastical day; but the evening time of the ecclesiastical day begins at the hour at which Vespers are customarily recited in choir. But now in choir Vespers are customarily recited, or at least can be recited, about the second hour in the afternoon; therefore according to ecclesiastical reckoning, the time which runs after Vespers have been recited in choir, or after the second hour, already belongs to the following day, on which Matins with Lauds can indeed be validly anticipated privately and also licitly, if a reasonable cause is present. St. Thomas is a witness of this custom, writing: "As regards the ecclesiastical office, the day begins from Vespers; hence if someone after Vespers and Compline have been said says Matins, now this belongs to the following day."²

b. It cannot be denied that among older and recent authors the more common opinion is the one which denies that he satisfies his obligation who, without a special privilege, recites Matins with Lauds at the second hour at any time of year. St. Alphonsus in the first edition of his moral theology had called the contrary affirmative opinion most probable; but afterward he retracted this and called the negative opinion truer. Yet since so many and such great authors, both older ones such as Sanchez, Viva, the Salmanticenses, and recent ones such as Ballerini-Palmieri, D'Annibale, Frasinetti, Sabetti, Bucceroni, and Genicot, hold the affirmative opinion, probability, both internal and external, cannot be denied to it.

c. The manner of acting of S.C.R. is added. For to the question: "At what hour is it lawful to begin the private recitation of Matins with Lauds in the evening of the preceding day?" it responded: "The private recitation of Matins with Lauds can be begun in the evening of the preceding day when the sun holds the middle of its course between midday and sunset."³ And to the question: "Whether in private recitation Matins for the following day can be begun at the second hour in the afternoon, or whether the table of the diocesan directory must be followed at every time," it responded: "Let approved authors be consulted."⁴ From these responses two things can be gathered: first, indeed, that if the affirmative opinion lacked all probability, the Holy See would have rejected it long ago; and then, since the sacred congregation refers the matter to approved authors, and many of these say that recitation at the second hour is lawful, with the Holy See itself approving, it is lawful to anticipate at the second hour in the afternoon.

¹ Not rarely a privilege is granted of anticipating Matins with Lauds at the first hour after midday; indeed to priests of the order of St. John of God on June 12, 1899, the privilege was granted of anticipating immediately after midday.

² Quodlib. V, a. 28, ad 1.

³ S.C.R., March 16, 1876, n. 3391.

⁴ S.C.R., May 12, 1905.