"Matutina ligat Christum qui crimina purgat."
"Although I should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee."
"And in like manner also said they all."
"Pray, lest you enter into temptation,"
"And being in agony He prayed the longer."
"Friend, whereunto art thou come?—"
"And they holding Jesus led Him away"—the Garden.
"Art thou one of His disciples?"
"My kingdom is not of this world"—Before the High Priest.
General Intentions:-Exaltation of the Church; the Pope; the Mission to the heathen; Christian nations; the conversion of the heretics, infidels and sinners; the Catholic laity; the Catholic priesthood.
Personal Intentions:-Lively faith; a greater hope; ardent charity.
Special Intentions:-For parents; for benefactors; for those in sorrow; dying sinners; deceased priests of Ireland; for the conversion of England; for vocations to the priesthood.
CHAPTER II.
LAUDS.
Etymology, Definition, Symbolism. The word "Lauds" is derived from the Latin laus, praise. It is applied to this Hour, as it is par excellence, the hour in which God's praises are chanted by His Church. This Hour succeeds Matins and precedes Prime. The name is said to have been given to this Hour on account of the last three Psalms, which formerly formed part of the Office. In these Psalms, 148, 149, 150, the word Laudate recurs several times. Before the eighth century the Hour was called "Matutinum," or morning Office, and sometimes it was called Gallicinum or Galli cantus from being recited at cock-crow. This is the Office of daybreak and hence its symbolism is of Christ's resurrection. "Christ, the light of the world, rose from the tomb on Easter morning, like a radiant sun, trampling over darkness and shedding His brightness upon the earth. The hymns, psalms, antiphons and versicles of Lauds, all proclaim the mystery of Christ's Resurrection, and the light which enlightens our souls. The reform of the Psalter in 1911 has not always preserved this liturgical idea; nevertheless, the character of the Office has not been altered. Lauds remains the true morning prayer, which hails in the rising sun, the image of Christ triumphant—consecrates to Him the opening day. No other morning prayer is comparable to this" (Dom. F. Cabrol, The Day Hours of the Church, London, 1910).
Antiquity. The Christians, in their night vigils, followed the pious practices of the Jews, as to prayers at dead of night and at dawn, Hence, the Hour, Lauds is of great antiquity, coming, perhaps, from Apostolic times. It is found well established in the very earliest accounts of Christian liturgy.
The old writers on liturgy loved to dwell on pious congruities and parallelisms. They ask the questions, why did the early Christians pray at dawn and why is the practice continued? They answer at great length, I will try to summarise their holy themes. The early Christians prayed at dawn, 1. that in the New Law the figures of the Old may be fulfilled; 2. to honour the risen Saviour and to remind us of our resurrection; 3. to glorify Jesus typified by the physical light. "I am the Light of the world" (St. John, viii. 12); 4. because at dawn, after rest, body and soul are refreshed and ready to devote all their powers to God, free from distractions and noise. Each dawn, revealing God's wondrous work, should hear God's praises in the most sublime words ever uttered, the Psalms (e.g., Dominus regnavit, Jubilate Deo, etc., etc.); 5. because God seems more disposed to hear prayers made at that hour. For, He has said, "Yet if thou wilt arise early to God and wilt beseech the Almighty… He will presently awake unto thee and make the dwelling of thy justice peaceable" (Job, viii. 5-6). "I love them that love me; and they that in the morning early watch for me shall find me" (Proverbs viii. 17).
Structure. If Lauds succeeds Matins immediately, Pater Noster and Ave Maria are omitted, and the Hour begins with Deus in adjutorium. At these words it is a practice but not an obligation to make the sign of the cross from head to breast (see Vespers, infra). Then the Gloria Patri, Sicut erat, Amen, Alleluia are said before the antiphons and psalms. But if a notable delay—say, of ten minutes' duration—be made between the end of Matins and the start of Lauds, the Pater Noster and Ave Maria begin Lauds. After the psalms, comes the Capitulum, the Hymn, Versicle and Response, antiphon to Benedictus, Canticle Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, Gloria Patri, Sicut erat, Antiphon to Benedictus repeated, Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo, Oremus, collect, commemorations preceded by versicle, response and Oremus before each. Then Dominus vobiscum, Et cum spiritu tuo, Benedicamus Domino, Deo Gratias, Fidelium animae, Amen. If another Hour do not succeed immediately, Pater Noster (said silently), Dominus det nobis (with a sign of the cross) suam pacem, Et vitam aeternam. Amen. Then is said the antiphon of the Blessed Virgin, Alma Redemptoris or Ave Regina, or Regina Coeli, or Salve Regina, according to the part of the ecclesiastical year for which each is assigned, with versicle, response, oremus, collect, Divinum auxilium…. Amen.