Liturgy of the Hours

A series of Christian liturgical offices, distributed through the day and night for daily recitation. The hours are comprised of psalms, canticles, readings, responsories, hymnody, and intercession, and vary according to time of day, day of the week, liturgical calendar. The order came to be fixed in Latin Christianity as consisting of eight canonical hours that all clerics, nuns, and monastics were obliged to recite daily. As such, the Liturgy of the Hours (or Divine Office) constituted the fundament of medieval liturgical prayer and of the experience of time for clergy and religious throughout the Middle Ages, and, particularly through the development of votive and intercessory offices, also played an important role in the shaping of the piety of lay women and men