Lauds
Lauds is a canonical hour of the Divine office. In the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours it is one of the major hours, usually held after Matins, in the early morning hours.
Name
The name is derived from the three last psalms of the psalter (148, 149, 150), the Laudate psalms, which in former versions of the Lauds of the Roman Rite occurred every day, and in all of which the word laudate is repeated frequently. At first, the word Lauds designated only the end, that is to say, these three psalms. Little by little the Lauds was applied to the whole office.[1]
History
Lauds, or the Morning Office or Office of Aurora, is one of the most ancient Offices and can be traced back to
According to John T. Hedrick, in Introduction to the Roman Breviary, Lauds were not originally a distinct canonical hour but Matins and Lauds formed a single office, the Night Office terminating only at dawn.
After St. Pius X’s reform, Lauds was reduced to four psalms or portions of psalms and an Old Testament canticle, putting an end to the custom of adding the last three psalms of the Psalter (148-150) at the end of Lauds every day.
Symbolism and significance
This is the Office of daybreak and hence its symbolism is of Christ's resurrection. According to Fernand Cabrol, "Lauds remains the true morning prayer, which hails in the rising sun, the image of Christ triumphant—consecrates to Him the opening day."[4] The Office of Lauds reminds the Christian that the first act of the day should be praise, and that one's thoughts should be of God before facing the cares of the day.
Liturgia horarum (1970)
In the edition of the Roman breviary of 1970 which was revised according to the mandate of the Second Vatican Council, Lauds (Latin Laudes matutinae, pl.) has the following structure:
- The liturgical opening "O God, come to our aid: O Lord, make haste to help us" (unless Lauds are the first prayer of the day, in this case it is "Lord, open my lips and my mouth will proclaim your praise")
- The hymn, which is optional when combining with Matins
- A morning
- A reading according to the liturgical day, season or feast
- A responsorial song or a short responsory
- The Benedictus, with its antiphon
- Preces
- The Lord's Prayer
- Concluding prayer
- Blessing and dismissal (if prayed a cleric is present), otherwise the celebration is concluded with "The Lord bless us…"
All psalms and canticles are concluded with the doxology, "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen." (The current translation of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 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.[5]
Variations
On feasts of saints 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
In some seasons of the liturgical year, such as Lent or Eastertide, many of the prayers are proper for each day of the season. In Holy Week, the octaves of Christmas and Easter, 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.
Other rites of the Western Church
In the
Armenian liturgy
The Armenian Morning (or Early) Hour (Armenian: Առաւաւտեան Ժամ aṛawotean zham) corresponds to the office of Lauds in the Roman Liturgy, both in its position in the daily cycle and in its importance. This is the most complex of all Armenian liturgies in terms of the variations in the order and text of the liturgy depending on the day of the week, liturgical tone, commemoration of the day, and liturgical season.
Many manuscripts and printed editions of the Armenian Book of Hours (Armenian: Ժամագիրք Zhamagirk`) state that the Morning Hour commemorates the Son of God, with some manuscripts adding, "at the time he was seized by the Jews". This is in reference to the story of the arrest and interrogation of Jesus found in the New Testament Gospels.
Outline of the Morning Service
In the Morning Hour for Sundays and Festal Days there are seven slots into which hymnody may be inserted which reflects the theme of the day. Each of these seven slots is associated with a Psalm or Canticle from the Old or New Testaments.
Eastern Christianity
Among the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, the office comparable to the Lauds of the Roman Rite is the Orthros. It also contains the three Laudate psalms (148-150), with which it traditionally closes.
Lutheran and Anglican traditions
Like the other
References
- ^ a b c d One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cabrol, Fernand (1910). "Lauds". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Parsch, Pius. "The Canonical Hours", Commentaries on the Breviary
- ISBN 9781907497285
- ^ Cabrol, Fernand. The Day Hours of the Church, London, 1910
- ^ "Universalis: Morning Prayer (Lauds)". www.universalis.com. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
- ISBN 9781470973780.
External links
- Lauds for today's date (Roman Catholic)
- Daily Lauds may be said here.