Matins
Canonical hour of Christian liturgy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Matins?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
SHOW ALL QUESTIONS
This article is about liturgy in Western and Eastern Christian traditions. For other uses, see Matins (disambiguation).
"Morning Office" redirects here. For other religious observances, see Morning Prayer (disambiguation).
Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning.
The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated by monks from about two hours after midnight to, at latest, the dawn, the time for the canonical hour of lauds (a practice still followed in certain orders). It was divided into two or (on Sundays) three nocturns. Outside of monasteries, it was generally recited at other times of the day, often in conjunction with lauds.