§ 5. The Manner of Reciting the Office

In order to satisfy fully the ecclesiastical precept, the Divine Office must be recited: 1. in the due order, place, posture, and time; 2. integrally; 3. continuously; 4. vocally; 5. with attention and intention.

371. 1. The due order must be observed not only among the different Offices, as the calendar determines it, but also within the same Office, as the Rubrics prescribe. Nevertheless, the inversion of the first order is more prohibited than that of the second. According to the Rubrics, the order of the Hours is the following: first Matins with Lauds is to be recited, and then Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. Inversion of this order never becomes a mortal sin, since it does not injure the substance of the Office; indeed, it is not even a venial sin if there exists a cause, even one only slightly impelling. Thus, e.g., it is lawful to say the Little Hours first and then Matins and Lauds if someone does not have a breviary at hand but only a diurnal; if someone cannot read the lessons well but can more easily say the psalms and antiphons, it is lawful for him now to omit the lessons and afterwards to say them separately; if someone arrives in choir when an Hour has already begun, he laudably continues by singing psalms with the others in choir, but afterwards he will complete privately those things which have not yet been said. Some say that it is entirely lawful not to recite the commemorations in the order designated by the Rubrics, since these Rubrics are not preceptive but directive.²⁴⁸

To invert the order of the Hours in choral recitation is at least a venial sin, since the Rubrics for this recitation are customarily much more gravely obligatory than for private recitation.²⁴⁹

²⁴⁸ Cf. Noldin, l.c., n. 171.

²⁴⁹ Some authors, such as the Salmanticenses, Suarez, Dominic Soto, Concina, etc., think that a notable inversion made without legitimate cause is a grave sin; but the opposite opinion is more probable. Cf. St. Alphonsus, l.c., n. 171.

372. Place and posture are indeed very accurately prescribed for the choral recitation of the Divine Office, but in private recitation great liberty is conceded. Hence the Office can be recited privately in any place and posture, provided, however, that the necessary attention is possible. The Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary granted a plenary indulgence to all who recite the entire Office before the Most Blessed Sacrament.²⁵⁰ By common law, all the Rubrics which prescribe certain genuflections, inclinations, signs of the cross, etc., refer to choral recitation, and do not oblige in private recitation. In certain religious orders some genuflections and inclinations are prescribed even for private recitation. The prayer Sacrosanctae, to be recited after the Office, must be said on bended knees if someone wishes to gain the favors attached to it. The sick alone are not bound to this genuflection.²⁵¹

²⁵⁰ Decree of 23 Oct. 1930 (Act. Ap. Sed. XXII, 493), decree of 5 Dec. 1930 (Act. Ap. Sed. XXIII, 23), and decree of 7 Nov. 1932 (Act. Ap. Sed. XXIV, 411).

²⁵¹ Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, 12 June 1855 and 7 Jan. 1856.

373. The time formerly assigned for reciting the Hours was this: Matins around midnight; Lauds at dawn; Prime after sunrise; Terce at the ninth hour; Sext at noon; None at the third hour after noon; Vespers at sunset; Compline at the twilight of night. Nevertheless, the same customs in this matter did not prevail in all churches. According to the present discipline, legitimate particular statutes are to be observed in choral recitation, yet in such a way that Matins and Lauds are always said before the conventual Mass corresponding to the Office. But as regards private recitation, there exists only one grave obligation, namely, to complete the whole Office within the natural day, or a space of twenty-four hours.²⁵² This time of twenty-four hours determined by law is, as they say, for terminating the obligation, but not for urging it. Therefore, he who by midnight has not yet completed the Divine Office of the present day is no longer bound to complete it in the hour immediately following, although he can do so. The reason is that the Office is considered as the burden of the day. On 23 July 1893 the Sacred Congregation of the Council permitted each person, as regards the recitation of the Hours and the Eucharistic fast, freely to observe either natural solar time or so-called legal time.²⁵³ Since, therefore, this legal time in some regions is half an hour later than solar time, there it is lawful, e.g., already at half past one in the afternoon to anticipate Matins and Lauds. Under venial sin, unless, however, a legitimate excusing cause is present, it is prescribed that Matins, Lauds, Prime, and Terce be recited before noon, but Vespers and Compline after noon. It is free to recite Sext and None either before or after noon. During Lent, except on the first three days and on Sundays, Vespers are to be said before noon, either at the eleventh hour or at any other morning hour. Nevertheless, a sufficient cause for saying the entire Office privately at any hour of the day is easily present, e.g., study to be done, a sermon to be prepared, confessions to be heard, greater devotion, etc.

The Rubric of the Missal²⁵⁴ prescribes that Matins and Lauds be recited by the priest before the celebration of Mass. Although some²⁵⁵ have thought that this Rubric obliges gravely, nevertheless the more common and more probable opinion admits only a light obligation.²⁵⁶ The reason is that there is not so close a connection between the Mass and the Office, since today the Mass not rarely does not correspond to the Office said (e.g., when Mass is said in another church or a Requiem Mass is said). Moreover, the recitation of Matins does not seem to be a necessary preparation for celebrating, since a priest can sufficiently dispose himself for celebrating Mass by praying in another manner. Nevertheless, there is a true moral obligation to recite Matins and Lauds before celebrating Mass, both because all the Rubrics of the Missal are more probably preceptive, and because failure to perform this recitation is numbered among the defects of the Mass. But for the recitation of Matins lawfully to be postponed until after Mass has been celebrated, a reasonable cause is required, e.g., lack of time, inconveniences otherwise arising, etc. It would, however, be a grave disorder if the conventual Mass corresponding to the Divine Office were celebrated without an urgent cause before Matins and Lauds had been recited in choir. Thus the truer and more common opinion.²⁵⁷

On the anticipation of Matins and Lauds. Matins and Lauds may be anticipated, i.e., recited on the preceding day, from that hour at which the sun holds the midpoint of its course between noon and sunset, according to the table inserted at the beginning of the breviary. By a special privilege this anticipation is sometimes conceded from one o'clock in the afternoon; indeed, to priests of the Order of St. John of God on 12 June 1899 and to all who possess the Bull of the Crusade, the privilege of anticipating immediately after noon was conceded. According to the discipline now in force, even apart from a special privilege, anticipation may always be made in private recitation from two o'clock in the afternoon, as the Sacred Congregation of Rites manifestly declared on 12 May 1905.²⁵⁸ The other Hours (and also the Pretiosa) cannot be anticipated on the preceding day.

²⁵² Cf., however, below concerning the anticipation of Matins and Lauds.

²⁵³ The Sacred Congregation of Rites established the same on 12 May 1905, ad 3 (Decr. auth. n. 4158).

²⁵⁴ Rit. serv. in Miss. I, n. 1; De defect. X, n. 1.

²⁵⁵ St. Antoninus (S. theol. P. 3, tit. 13, c. 4, § 4 and c. 6, § 6), Ledesma, Antoine, etc.; cf. St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor. l. 6, n. 347.

²⁵⁶ Cf. St. Alphonsus, l.c., and Concina, In Decal. l. 2, diss. 2, c. 9, § 8, n. 11.

²⁵⁷ Benedict XIV, St. Alphonsus, Soto, and many others cited by St. Alphonsus, l.c., n. 348, hold it. If several conventual Masses are to be said on some day, it suffices that Matins and Lauds have been recited before the principal Mass.

²⁵⁸ The following responses of the Sacred Congregation of Rites were issued concerning this matter: 1. "Whether in private recitation Matins for the following day can be begun at two o'clock in the afternoon, or whether the table of the diocesan directory is to be followed at all times? — Affirmative to the first part; negative to the second." 2. "Whether also in public or choral recitation the Office can be begun at two o'clock in the afternoon? — Negative." 3. "Whether the hour for reciting Matins can be reckoned indiscriminately from the local meridian circle or from the official meridian circle, called Greenwich, which indeed anticipates the hour of the local circle (at Piacenza) by approximately a third of an hour? — At will" (Decr. auth. n. 4158). In some periodicals and authors, "Approved authors are to be consulted" is read as the response to the first question, but the text as it is found in the authentic Decrees is to be followed.

374. 2. That the Office is to be recited integrally each day is certain. Hence he is guilty of mortal sin who culpably omits a notable part of it, whether that notable part is continuous or composed of many separate small parts. One Little Hour, or another equivalent part, is considered a notable part, as was already said above in n. 362. If someone pronounces the individual words of the Office with notable truncation or, as it were, swallows very many syllables of words, he indeed sins against the integrity of the Office; but Billuart,²⁵⁹ with other authors, rightly observes that in these cases a mortal sin is rarely present unless the truncation is truly enormous. The reason is that in moral matters we ought so to speak that no entrance is given to infinite scruples; but this would happen if, because of certain slight mutilations which so easily creep in, grave matter of sin were finally constituted at the end of the Office.

The integrity of the Office is in no way injured if someone sings psalms alternately in choir; indeed, if someone occupied with necessary duties of the choir, e.g., playing the organ, does not recite alternately some verses or even an entire psalm. For then, as they say, the choir supplies.²⁶⁰ He who plays the organ while the Office is sung in choir does not satisfy his obligation unless he intelligibly pronounces the alternate verses with one part of the choir and responds with the choir to those things which are customarily said by one person.²⁶¹ Even in private recitation it is lawful to recite the Office alternately with a companion, as it is celebrated in choir. The companion called in can be a layman, indeed even a woman.²⁶² It is required, however, that the one who is obliged to the Office and thus sings psalms alternately hear his companion singing psalms,²⁶³ whence a deaf person cannot say the Office in this manner. Nothing, however, prevents the companion called in from being deaf and hearing nothing of the recitation of the Office, provided nevertheless that he himself intelligibly pronounces the alternate verses and is heard by the one who is obliged to the Office. Alternate private recitation is customarily of no small assistance to devotion, and therefore is to be counseled if it can conveniently be done.

²⁵⁹ De orat. diss. 2, a. 8, § 7.

²⁶⁰ The Sacred Congregation of the Council determined on 12 Apr. 1919, 16 Apr. and 19 July 1921, that a bishop about to celebrate a pontifical Mass satisfies the obligation of the canonical Hour (Terce and None) by reciting the prayers prescribed by the Caeremoniale Episcoporum (Act. Ap. Sed. XIII, 480).

²⁶¹ Thus the common opinion; cf. Concina, In Decal. l. 2, diss. 2, c. 5, q. 13.

²⁶² Cf. Billuart, De orat. diss. 2, a. 8, § 7.

²⁶³ Authors rather commonly agree that a deaf cleric cannot recite the Office alternately with a private companion. Some, however, are more benign if the deaf person assists in choir.

375. 3. Continuously, i.e., without interruption, the individual Hours are to be said. Nevertheless, with all theologians agreeing, any interruption, even one made without a reasonable cause, never constitutes a mortal sin. For the sole grave obligation is the recitation of the entire Office within the space of one day. Yet a notable interruption which is made without cause between parts of the same Hour seems to be a venial sin, since irreverence in prayer arises from it. Thus, e.g., if someone were to say one psalm of Prime in the morning and recite the other two psalms of this Hour in the evening, and were to do this without reasonable cause, he would sin venially. If the interruption of the Hour is only brief, a sufficient cause excusing from all fault is easily present. Thus, e.g., a confessor sitting in the confessional and awaiting penitents can recite the Office, even though he foresees several interruptions from the arrival of some confessing persons. It is also lawful briefly to interrupt the recitation of the Breviary in order to greet a friend encountered or to give a brief answer. Although Matins and Lauds constitute one Hour, nevertheless it is lawful, even without a reason, to separate Matins from Lauds in private recitation (but not in choir). Then, however, by the general prescription of the Rubric, after Matins let there be said: Dominus vobiscum, the prayer of the day, Benedicamus, Fidelium. But it is necessary that afterwards, before Lauds thus separated from Matins, the Pater noster and Ave be said.²⁶⁴ In Matins each Nocturn can be separated from the others by a space of three hours, because even in antiquity the individual Nocturns were separated from one another by such a space. According to St. Alphonsus,²⁶⁵ a just cause for interrupting the Office is "any advantage of one's own or another's which would inconveniently be deferred. Likewise civility or devotion, as to execute the commands of a superior; if you wish to do or note something so that you may remove a distraction or solicitude, lest you forget, provided this is not done frequently." It is also lawful to interpose some brief ejaculatory prayer in order to increase devotion. For the maxim is valid: One prayer is not interrupted by another.

²⁶⁴ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 18 May 1883 and 1 Feb. 1886 (Decr. auth. n. 3574, dub. II, and n. 3653).

²⁶⁵ Theol. mor. l. 4, n. 168.

376. 4. By the mouth or vocally the Office must be recited, since by its nature it is a public prayer, which must always be vocal. Therefore the individual words must be formed with the mouth, lips, and tongue even in private recitation. Moreover, they must be so pronounced that the one praying is conscious that he is truly uttering words, even though in fact he does not hear them.²⁶⁶ It is not required, however, that the uttered words be capable of being heard by those standing nearby. Indeed, it is a hardly praiseworthy custom so to utter, or rather hiss, the words of the Office in private recitation that those standing nearby suffer annoyance from it. A cleric merely reading the Office mentally or running through it with the eyes alone does not satisfy his obligation, at least if he does not have a special privilege. Leo X is said to have conceded to the Friars Minor (and through communication of privileges to all regulars) the privilege that, both in the canonical Hours and in the Mass, they are not bound to utter the words vocally, but satisfy the obligation by saying mentally those things which in the Ordinary are commanded to be said secretly. St. Alphonsus,²⁶⁷ citing several authors, writes concerning this matter: "The Salmanticenses rightly argue: private recitation, in which nothing is said in order that it may be understood by others, can by this privilege be made entirely mentally." In our times Victorius ab Appeltern, O. Cap.,²⁶⁸ and Il Monitore Ecclesiastico²⁶⁹ defend the same doctrine as safe in practice. Because of the authority of St. Alphonsus, whose opinions any confessor can follow in practice unless the Roman Curia has expressly established otherwise, I indeed would not dare to declare guilty of mortal sin a regular cleric who had said the entire Office only mentally; but not a few authors teach that this privilege conceded by Leo X no longer exists today.²⁷⁰ In choral recitation each chorister must recite or sing the Office alternately in a loud voice. It is not required, however, that he himself be heard by the opposite choir; it suffices that he can be heard by those standing near. For the essence of choral recitation seems to consist in this: that each chorister suitably assists with his voice so that one part of the choir may worthily understand the other part.²⁷¹

²⁶⁶ Cf. St. Alphonsus, l.c., n. 163.

²⁶⁷ Ib., n. 63.

²⁶⁸ Corp. iur. regul. q. 2-7.

²⁶⁹ Vol. 14, p. 80ff.

²⁷⁰ E.g., Noldin, De praeceptis n. 765; Ferraris, Prompta Bibl., s.v. "Divinum Officium," n. 100.

²⁷¹ Cf. Concina, In Decalog. l. 2, diss. 2, c. 5, q. 18.

377. 5. With due intention and attention the Office must be recited. The required intention is the intention of praying, or of honoring and worshiping God. It is not required that this intention be explicit and express, but it suffices that the cleric say the Office for the sake of satisfying his obligation. This good intention is most excellently expressed in the words of the beautiful short prayer to be placed before the Hours: "Lord, in union with that divine intention with which Thou Thyself didst render praises to God upon earth, I render these Hours unto Thee."

Concerning the required attention, enough has already been said above in n. 354. According to all theologians, external attention is certainly required; whether, in addition, at least some internal attention is required for satisfying the obligation is disputed among authors. See above, n. 355ff.

Several remedies for repelling distractions are counseled: 1. at the beginning of the Office to form a vigorous and explicit intention of praising God; 2. to renew this intention at the Gloria Patri or at the beginning of each psalm; 3. to represent to oneself some mystery of the Passion during the recitation of the Office; 4. diligently to guard the senses; 5. to conduct oneself composedly and reverently by external gestures of the body; hence it is preferable to say the Office on bended knees or before the Most Holy Eucharist, but not sitting or lying down unless a reasonable cause is present; 7. to study the right understanding of the psalms and of the other things which occur in the Office. For not rarely distractions arise from the fact that a cleric does not perceive and has never understood the true sense of the sentences which he recites.

378. On causes excusing from the recitation of the Office. Three causes excusing from the recitation of the Hours are customarily enumerated: 1. physical inability; 2. moral inability; 3. legitimate dispensation. The first two causes excuse because no one is bound to the impossible and because a positive law does not oblige with great inconvenience; the third cause excuses because the recitation of the Office is prescribed not by natural or divine law but by ecclesiastical law alone. But the obligation of an ecclesiastical law ceases through legitimate dispensation. A few things are to be explained concerning the individual excusing causes.

1. Physical inability is a physical obstacle impeding the recitation of the Office. Obstacles of this sort are: lack of a breviary (if someone does not know how to recite the Office from memory), blindness, grave illness, etc. For both physical and moral inability the following general rule is valid: He who cannot recite the entire Office, but can recite a notable part, such as a Little Hour is considered to be, is bound gravely to recite this part. This rule is confirmed because the contrary was condemned by Innocent XI (prop. 54).²⁷² But he who cannot recite even a Little Hour is now bound to nothing, since so small a part does not notably conduce to the end intended by the law prescribing the recitation of the Office.²⁷³ He who cannot recite the Office alone is bound to employ a companion gratuitously, if this is possible without great inconvenience. The reason is that any precept which can be fulfilled by ordinary means must be fulfilled. But to employ a gratuitous companion for reciting the Office is considered by St. Alphonsus²⁷⁴ and several other authors to be an ordinary means. Authors do not agree whether a beneficiary who is unable to recite the Office alone is bound to hire a companion for the recitation of the Office from the revenues of the benefice. Some answer affirmatively, but others negatively. St. Alphonsus²⁷⁵ calls both opinions probable. In practice, a dispensation or interpretation from the competent authority is then better sought.

He who is legitimately excused from the recitation of the Office because of physical (or moral) inability is not bound to say other prayers in place of the Office, because such a commutation is prescribed nowhere. Nevertheless, a cleric impeded from saying the Office laudably recites other prayers; for in this way he shows his good will to satisfy the precept of praying specially imposed upon him by the Church.

²⁷² Cf. above, n. 360.

²⁷³ St. Alphonsus, Theol. mor. l. 4, n. 158.

²⁷⁴ Ib.

²⁷⁵ Ib.

379. 2. Moral inability is a grave inconvenience which would arise from the recitation of the Office. Such an inconvenience can arise especially a) from illness, b) from grave necessary labors. "By reason of infirmity, not only those who labor under grave illness are excused from the Office, but also those who cannot recite it except with grave inconvenience or probable danger of such inconvenience. Hence those are sufficiently excused who prudently believe or fear that from the recitation of the Office there will come upon them a notable heaviness of the head, indigestion of the stomach, or weariness of strength; or if they believe that a fever will be slower to remit." Thus St. Alphonsus,²⁷⁶ with several other authors. The same holy Doctor rightly asserts that this also holds even if the sick person were to read some book to console his mind. For reading of this sort, which holds still more for reading newspapers and illustrated periodicals, does not weary but rather relieves, whereas the recitation of the Office is customarily the cause of rather great weariness. He who doubts whether some infirmity sufficiently excuses from recitation of the Office can stand by the judgment of his superior, confessor, physician, or another prudent man.

It is certain and admitted by all that a grave occupation undertaken from duty or charity sometimes constitutes moral inability to recite the Office. The following can be held as a general rule: An occupation excuses from the recitation of the Office when it is prescribed by a greater precept than that which enjoins the recitation of the Office, and it cannot be deferred to another time. This rule is founded upon the principle admitted by all: In a conflict of two laws, the stronger law prevails. Hence there follow some practical applications:

Solutions. a) He who, when about to recite the Office, is suddenly called to administer the sacraments to a dying person ought first to administer the sacraments, even if in this manner he cannot recite the Office. For in this case the precept of charity prevails over the ecclesiastical precept of reciting the Office.

b) He who is occupied in hearing confessions which cannot be deferred to another day without notable inconvenience (e.g., during the time of a Mission), in such a way that he cannot recite the Office except at an unseasonable hour of the night or with enormous weariness, is legitimately excused from the Office. The reason is that in this case three precepts, namely, the precept of charity toward one's neighbor (the salvation of souls), the precept of fulfilling the office of confessor, and the precept of not ruining one's health, prevail over the ecclesiastical precept of reciting the canonical Hours. Casuists, however, dispute uselessly concerning the precise duration of time for which confessions must be heard in order that a confessor be excused from recitation of the Office, some excusing a confessor who hears confessions for seven hours in a day, others requiring a space of ten hours. The practical solution depends upon the bodily condition of the confessor. If after seven hours spent in the confessional he is so weary that he is no longer able to recite the canonical Hours without great weariness, he is legitimately excused; but if some confessor is so robust that even after ten hours spent in the confessional he is still easily able to recite the Divine Office, he is not excused. In practice it is better that, in these or similar cases, either a dispensation be conceded by the legitimate superior, or what must be done be determined.

c) He who needs the whole time for preparing a sermon which he cannot omit or defer without great inconvenience; he who must spend the whole day making a necessary journey on which he cannot recite the breviary, are legitimately excused. The reason is that even in these cases the law of reciting the Office ought to yield to the stronger law.

²⁷⁶ Ib., n. 154.

380. 3. Legitimate dispensation can suspend the obligation of reciting the Office or even remove it entirely. For this whole obligation arises from ecclesiastical law alone, which is dispensable. But since this ecclesiastical law is universal and obliges so gravely, no one except the Supreme Pontiff can dispense from it by his own authority. In an urgent case, however, bishops and Regular prelates can for a just cause dispense their subjects for a time. In present times bishops, by force of special faculties, can not rarely concede to their subject clerics that in place of the Divine Office they may recite the Rosary or other prayers. Clement VII²⁷⁷ conceded to superiors of Regulars that they may dispense from recitation of the Divine Office their subjects occupied in preaching the word of God, hearing confessions, lecturing on Sacred Theology or the Sacred Canons, or applying themselves to study or to the salvation of souls. In place of the Office, these superiors must then prescribe seven or six psalms, the Pater noster seven times, and the Apostles' Creed twice. Such a faculty of dispensing seems still to exist in our days.²⁷⁸

²⁷⁷ Const. Dudum, § 2.

²⁷⁸ Cf. our Man. iur. can. q. 237.

381. Scholion. On certain other prayers. Besides the canonical Hours, the Church employs several other prayers in exercises of worship; these prayers are found in various liturgical books. The Litanies are especially of frequent use. According to the present discipline, only the following five Litanies are permitted in properly liturgical offices: 1. the Litany of All Saints, which for centuries has already been in use in many ecclesiastical ceremonies, e.g., during the three Rogation days, on the feast of St. Mark, in the conferral of major orders, etc.; 2. the Litany of Loreto, which was recited from the twelfth century onward, but was approved by Sixtus V on 11 July 1587 and afterwards enlarged by certain additions;²⁷⁹ 3. the Litany of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, approved by Pius IX on 21 Oct. 1862; 4. the Litany of the Most Sacred Heart, approved on 2 Apr. 1899; 5. the Litany in honor of St. Joseph, approved on 18 Mar. 1909. Besides these Litanies there exist very many others which, however, have not been approved by the Apostolic See and cannot lawfully be employed in properly liturgical offices, such as Mass, Vespers, and all devotions before the Most Blessed Sacrament solemnly exposed. Nothing, however, prevents these unapproved Litanies from being employed in private devotions, if otherwise they contain nothing worthy of reprehension. A bishop cannot approve new Litanies to be recited publicly.²⁸⁰

²⁷⁹ Cf. Sauren, Die Lauretanische Litanei nach Ursprung, Geschichte und Inhalt, Kempten 1895, or De Santi, Le Litanie Lauretane, Rome 1897.

²⁸⁰ Code of Canon Law, c. 1259, § 2.