A book to be used in private devotions with psalms, other passages from the Bible, anthems, hymns, prayers, and usually with colorful decorations and pictures. They are called the Book of Hours because they generally included, as a central section, the material to be read in observing the “Hours” of the Virgin Mary. In honoring the Virgin Mary, the twenty-four hour day was broken into three sections of eight equal parts, each portion called an “Hour”, using the beginning of the period as an indicator. A short private service called an “office:” was set for the observations of that “Hour”. Many of the “Offices” were given the name of the hour in the classical Roman counting. (Prime, for example, was the Roman first hour, or 6 a.m. ; Terce the third hour, 9 a.m.; Sext the sixth hour, noon; and Nones the ninth hour, 3 p.m.) A certain episode in the life of the Virgin Mary came to be associated with each “Hour.”

Hour	Office	Episode
midnight	Matins (or Nocturns)	The Annunciation
3 a.m.	Lauds	The Visitation of Elizabeth
6 a.m.	Prime	The Annunciation to the Shepherds
9 a.m.	Terce	The Nativity
noon	Sext	The Adoration of the Magi
3 p.m.	Nones	The Presentation in the Temple
6 p.m.	Vespers	The Flight into Egypt
9 p.m.	Compline	The Coronation of the Virgin

The Book of Hours include various other sections. Since they were usually made to order, the contents and the arrangements are not fixed. Usually they begin with a Calendar of Saints’ Days, and continue with lessons from each of the four Gospels. Then the central part, the Hours of the Virgin Mary. The concluding part often has the Penitential Psalms and Litany, the Office of the Dead, and memorials to various saints. (Thorpe, 1976)

Nocturns

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