Editing Roman Breviary (section)

== Elements of the Hours ==
It has already been indicated, by reference to Matins, Lauds, &c., that not only each day, but each part of the day, has its own office, the day being divided into liturgical "hours." A detailed account of these will be found in the article [[Canonical Hours]]. Each of the hours of the office is composed of the same elements, and something must be said now of the nature of these constituent parts, of which mention has here and there been already made. They are: psalms (including canticles), antiphons, responsories, hymns, lessons, little chapters, versicles and collects.<ref name=EB1911/>

=== Psalms ===
Before the 1911 reform, the multiplication of saints' festivals, with practically the same festal psalms, tended to repeat the about one-third of the Psalter, with a correspondingly rare recital of the remaining two-thirds. Following this reform, the entire Psalter is again generally recited each week, with the festal psalms restricted to only the highest-ranking feasts. As in the Greek usage and in the Benedictine, certain canticles like the Song of Moses (Exodus xv.), the [[Song of Hannah]] (1 Sam. ii.), the prayer of Habakkuk (iii.), the prayer of Hezekiah (Isaiah xxxviii.) and other similar Old Testament passages, and, from the New Testament, the [[Magnificat]], the [[Benedictus (Song of Zechariah)|Benedictus]] and the [[Nunc dimittis]], are admitted as psalms.<ref name=EB1911/>

=== Antiphons ===
The antiphons are short liturgical forms, sometimes of biblical, sometimes of patristic origin, used to introduce a psalm. The term originally signified a chant by alternate choirs, but has quite lost this meaning in the Breviary.<ref name=EB1911/>

=== Responsories ===
The responsories are similar in form to the antiphons, but come at the end of the psalm, being originally the reply of the choir or congregation to the precentor who recited the psalm.<ref name=EB1911/>

=== Hymns ===
The hymns are short poems going back in part to the days of [[Prudentius]], [[Synesius]], [[Gregory of Nazianzus]] and [[Ambrose of Milan|Ambrose]] (4th and 5th centuries), but mainly the work of medieval authors.<ref name=EB1911/>

=== Lessons ===
The lessons, as has been seen, are drawn variously from the Bible, the [[Acts of the Saints]] and the [[Fathers of the Church]]. In the primitive church, books afterwards excluded from the canon were often read, e.g. the letters of [[Clement of Rome]] and the [[Shepherd of Hermas]]. In later days the churches of Africa, having rich memorials of martyrdom, used them to supplement the reading of Scripture. Monastic influence accounts for the practice of adding to the reading of a biblical passage some patristic commentary or exposition. Books of homilies were compiled from the writings of SS. [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], [[Hilary of Poitiers|Hilary]], [[Athanasius]], [[Isidore of Seville|Isidore]], [[Pope Gregory I|Gregory the Great]] and others, and formed part of the library of which the Breviary was the ultimate compendium. In the lessons, as in the psalms, the order for special days breaks in upon the normal order of ferial offices and dislocates the scheme for consecutive reading. The lessons are read at Matins (which is subdivided into three nocturns).<ref name=EB1911/>

=== Little chapters ===
The little chapters are very short lessons read at the other "hours."<ref name=EB1911/>

=== Versicles ===
The versicles are short responsories used after the little chapters in the minor hours.<ref name=EB1911/> They appear after the hymns in Lauds and Vespers.

=== Collects ===
The collects come at the close of the office and are short prayers summing up the supplications of the congregation. They arise out of a primitive practice on the part of the bishop (local president), examples of which are found in the [[Didache|Didachē]] (Teaching of the Apostles) and in the letters of Clement of Rome and Cyprian. With the crystallization of church order, improvisation in prayer largely gave place to set forms, and collections of prayers were made which later developed into [[Sacramentary|Sacramentaries]] and Orationals. The collects of the Breviary are largely drawn from the Gelasian and other Sacramentaries, and they are used to sum up the dominant idea of the festival in connection with which they happen to be used.<ref name=EB1911/>