Principal Hours

Morning Prayer
Lauds
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Invitatory or Introductory Verse
[If this Hour begins the Office, the Invitatory begins the Hour and the
Introductory Verse is omitted; otherwise the Hour begins with the Introductory
Verse.]

Evening Prayer
Vespers
________________________________________
Introductory Verse

Office of Readings
Matins1
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Invitatory or Introductory Verse
[If this Hour begins the Office, the Invitatory begins the Hour and the
Introductory Verse is omitted; otherwise the Hour begins with the Introductory
Verse.]

1This Hour can be celebrated as the first Hour of the day or at any time during
the day. The Office of Readings can be anticipated on the preceding day [See the
GILH No.59 : Without prejudice to the regulations just given, the office of
readings may be recited at any hour of the day, even during the night hours of the
previous day, after evening prayer has been said.], or it can be celebrated as a
Vigil, as matins came to be officially considered in the Church [But at midnight
there as a cry, "The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him." Mt 25:6. So stay
awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening,
midnight, cockcrow, dawn; if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep.
And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake! Mk 13:35-37.], during the night
hours, as nocturnal prayer [See the GILH on the implications of Vigil celebration
respecting Night Prayer and, where applicable, Evening Prayer I and Evening Prayer
II of the Office of the previous day.]. Where the Office of Readings is celebrated
as a Vigil on Sundays, Solemnities, and Feasts, the Office of Readings is modified
after the Second Reading. For a description of this modified structure, see the
page headed VIGILS.

Hymn

Hymn
Hymn or Poem

ALesser Doxology: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as
it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen.
BPsalm Prayers occur here unless this is the first section of a psalm divided into
two or three parts in which case the Psalm Prayer appears after the final part.
There are exceptions however, when a Psalm Prayer follows a long portion of one
psalm. This may be due to the affinity this psalm section has with the Christian
perspective and Catholic theological and doctrinal illumination typically
provided by Psalm Prayers. In the Office of Readings, Psalm Prayers appear only in
the Four Week Psalter for the Office of Readings. There are no Psalm Prayers in
the Common of the Saints from which the Proper of the Saints draws its Psalmody. 

Nota Bene: When the Office of Readings is celebrated as a Vigil for Sundays,
Solemnities, and Feasts, the structure of this Hour of the Divine Office is
modified after these two readings to receive additional material. As a Vigil, it
becomes the first Hour of the day for which it is being celebrated and so begins
with the Invitatory. When celebrated as a Vigil for Sundays, Solemnities, and
Feasts, the Office of Readings is increased by the inclusion of three Old
Testament canticles with a common antiphon and a Gospel passage which on Sundays
emphasizes the Resurrection
And on Solemnities emphasizes a theme relevant to it. When a Feast of the Lord
falls on a Sunday, the Gospel may be taken from the current Sunday or from the
Feast, in which case the Gospel reading is taken from the Lectionary for Mass.
After this, the Office of reading concludes as normally. Please see VIGILS.
Nota Bene: If the Office of Readings comes immediately before another Hour of the
Divine Office, the Office of Readings begins with the hymn, in its place, of the
immediately succeeding Hour of the Divine Office. At the end of the Office of
Reading, leave out the Concluding Prayer and the Conclusion. In the Hour
immediately following the Office of Readings, the Introductory Verse is omitted,
owing to the fact that the Office of Readings began with the Invitatory and there
was no pause between the Office of Readings and the succeeding Hour of the Divine
Office.

For Morning Prayer

[No "Let us pray"; ORDINARY TIME [from the 4 week Psalter]: on weekdays, the
Concluding Prayer is of a character appropriate to the Hour and, consequently,
unlike the Concluding Prayer for Evening Prayer; the Concluding Prayer for this
Hour is also unlike the Opening Prayer at the end of the Introductory Rites during
the Mass for that day; there is an individual Concluding Prayer for this Hour each
day;

ON SUNDAYS: the Concluding Prayer for Sundays is proper, from the Proper of the
Seasons; it is the same Concluding Prayer for both Morning Prayer and for Evening
Prayer; this Concluding Prayer is also the Opening Prayer at the end of the
Introductory Rites for Sunday Mass as well as the Opening Prayer for each weekday
Mass for that week;

ON FEASTS AND MEMORIALS: for these days, there is either a proper Concluding
Prayer or a Concluding Prayer from the Common of the Saints, perhaps from a
selection provided in the Common, which is used for all purposes: the Concluding
Prayer for Morning Prayer, for Evening Prayer I, for Evening Prayer II, for the
Office of Readings, and for the Opening Prayer for the Mass of that day;

ON SOLEMNITIES: the Concluding Prayer for this Hour is proper; it is the Opening
Prayer for the Mass of the day [NOT the Vigil Mass] except for Christmas where the
Concluding Prayer for Morning Prayer is the Opening Prayer for the Mass at dawn.]

**For Evening Prayer

[No "Let us pray"; ORDINARY TIME [from the 4 week Psalter]: on weekdays, the
Concluding Prayer is of a character appropriate to the Hour and, consequently,
unlike the Concluding Prayer for Morning Prayer and unlike the Opening Prayer at
the end of the Introductory Rites during the Mass of that day; there is an
individual Concluding Prayer for this Hour on each day;

ON SUNDAYS: the Concluding Prayer is proper, from the Proper of the Seasons; the
same Concluding Prayer occurs in both Evening Prayer and Morning Prayer; this
Concluding Prayer is also the Opening Prayer at the end of the Introductory Rites
for that Sunday Mass and the Opening Prayer for each weekday Mass of that week;

ON FEASTS AND MEMORIALS: for these days there is either a proper Concluding Prayer
or a Concluding Prayer from the Common of the Saints, perhaps from a selection
provided in the Common, which is used for all purposes, as indicated under the
corresponding title in Morning Prayer;

ON SOLEMNITIES: the Concluding Prayer is always proper for Solemnities; for

Solemnities without a Vigil Mass, the Concluding Prayer for Evening Prayer I and
Evening Prayer II is the same as the Concluding Prayer for Morning Prayer, as the
Concluding Prayer for the Office of Readings, and as the Opening Prayer for the
Mass of that day; for Solemnities with a Vigil Mass [Nativity of John the Baptist
{June 24}, Peter and Paul, Apostles {June 29}, the Assumption {August 15},
Pentecost {fifty days after Easter}, Christmas {December 25}]*, the Concluding
Prayer for Evening Prayer I is the same as the Opening Prayer for the Vigil Mass
celebrated the previous day, the Concluding Prayer for Evening Prayer II is the
same as the Opening Prayer for the Mass of the day, the same as the Concluding
Prayer for Morning Prayer, and the same as the Concluding Prayer for the Office of
Readings; *Christmas further complicates the correspondence between Concluding
Prayers of the Office and Opening Prayers of the Mass; for the most part,
Christmas is the same as other Solemnities with a Vigil Mass in respect of
Concluding Prayers and Opening Prayers; Christmas differs in the following way:
the Concluding Prayer for Evening Prayer II and for the Office of Readings is
identical with the Opening Prayer for the Mass of the day, but the Concluding
Prayer for Morning Prayer is identical with the Opening Prayer for the Mass at
dawn.]

***For the Office of Readings

[This prayer begins with “Let us Pray” and ends with the “long conclusion” [ See
“Prayer Endings” in the GIRM]; the Concluding Prayer for this Hour is the same for
each day of the week, from Sunday to Saturday; this Concluding Prayer is also the
same as the Opening Prayer for the Sunday of that week, which is drawn from the
Proper of the Seasons [Advent, Christmastide, Lent, Easter] or from the
appropriate week of Ordinary Time; this Concluding Prayer is also the same as the
Opening Prayer for each weekday Mass for that week [Opening Prayers for Sunday
Masses are repeated as the Opening Prayers for Weekday Masses of that week, unless
a particular Feast, Memorial, or Solemnity is celebrated on that weekday]
[references in Christian Prayer ,after the psalmody in the Office of Readings for
a particular day, to Prayer and Readings, as in the Office of the Day refer to
the Concluding Prayer of the Sunday of that week and to the discretionary readings
provided];

ON FEASTS AND MEMORIALS: the Concluding Prayer is Proper; it is identical to the

Opening Prayer for the Mass of the day;

ON SOLEMNITIES: for the most part, the Concluding Prayer for the Office of
Readings is the same as the Opening Prayer for the Mass of the day [NOT the Vigil
Mass] and the same as the Concluding Prayer for the Hour of Morning Prayer and the
Hour of Evening Prayer II; sometimes, however, the Concluding Prayer for the Hour
of the Office of Readings is the same as the Concluding Prayer for the Hour of
Evening Prayer I and the same as the Opening Prayer of the Vigil Mass preceding
Feast Days of Major Saints [e.g., Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles [June 29]].]