Custom: Reciting and chanting the Psalms
Where can you see this custom in practice? St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison
The Benedictine Monks recite or chant the
Liturgy of the Hours four times a day, seven days a week.
Photo courtesy St. Benedict's Abbey
THE PUBLIC IS INVITED
The general public may visit St. Benedict's
Abbey and participate with the monks in this ancient form of prayer in the St.
Benedict's Abbey Church on the campus of Benedictine College.
Monday-Friday
6:20 a.m. Vigils/morning prayer
12:05 p.m. Midday prayer
5:15 p.m. Mass
6:45 p.m. Vespers
Saturday
6:20 a.m. Vigils/morning prayer
11:30 a.m. Mass with midday prayer
5:35 p.m. Vespers
6:45 p.m. Vigils
Sunday
7 a.m. Morning prayer
10 a.m. Mass
12:05 p.m. Midday prayer
5:05 p.m.
Vespers
THE HISTORY OF THE
LITURGY
For 152 years the Benedictine monks of St.
Benedict's Abbey have been living in community and praying the Psalms of Sacred
Scripture. Since 1857, this form of prayer, known as the Liturgy of the Hours,
the official prayer of the Catholic Church, has been prayed by the monks in
Atchison at least four times a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,
totaling more than 55,500 days straight of communal prayer.
Photo courtesy St. Benedict's AbbeyWHAT IS THE LITURGY OF
THE HOURS?
The Liturgy of the Hours is a combination of reciting
and musical chanting of the Psalms. The monks' prayer, which includes Latin and
an English translation of Gregorian chant, is a combination of un-accompanied
voices singing in unison and voices accompanied by organ. According to ancient
custom, the monks sit in two divisions of choir stalls, facing one another, and
chant alternating verses.
The practice of praying the Liturgy of the Hours
goes back to the early church and is a continuation of the Jewish practice of
reciting prayers at certain hours of the day or night. In the Psalms there are
expressions like "in the morning I offer you my prayer," "at midnight I will
rise and thank you," "evening, morning and at noon I will cry and lament," "seven times a day I praise you."
In keeping with Benedictine hospitality, the
public is invited to participate fully in the Liturgy of the Hours.
MONKS IN KANSAS
This custom of praying the Liturgy of the Hours,
and the Benedictine life of a monk in general, has flavored the lives of
Kansans across the state. Monks founded Benedictine College in Atchison in
1858, which currently has a student population of over 1,400 full-time students.
The monks founded numerous parishes in northeast Kansas, as well as in
Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa, even setting up a monastery for a short period of
time in the late 1800s in southwest Kansas near Ashland. The Benedictine
bishop, Louis Fink (bishop of Leavenworth from 1871 to 1904), encouraged German
immigrants to settle in colonies throughout Kansas so the monks and other German-speaking
priests could better serve them. Bishop Fink took out ads in German newspapers
to encourage immigration to Kansas and the settling of German colonies.
