Lauds: Meaning, Order, and the Morning Prayer of the Church

Lauds (from the Latin laudes, "praises") is the morning prayer of the Catholic Church, the hour of the Breviary sung at daybreak. In the Roman Breviary of 1962 it is made of five psalms with their antiphons, one of them an Old Testament canticle and the last a psalm of praise; then a short chapter from Scripture, a hymn, a versicle, the Benedictus of Zachary, and the collect of the day. It takes about fifteen to twenty minutes said, longer sung, and any of the faithful may pray it.

Below: what the word means, where Lauds comes from, the order of the hour, the psalms of Sunday and of each day, the Benedictus in Latin and English, and how Lauds and Vespers together frame the Christian day. You can pray today's Lauds from the 1962 Breviary, in Latin and English, as you read.

What is Lauds? Meaning and definition

Lauds is one of the eight hours of the Divine Office, the public prayer the Church offers to God at fixed times of the day and night: Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. These are the canonical hours, and the 1960 rubrics of the Breviary count Matins, Lauds and Vespers as the three major hours. Their words are fixed in the Breviary, so that whoever prays them prays not alone but in the name of the Church.

The name means simply "praises." It was first given to the last three psalms of the hour, Psalms 148, 149 and 150, which ring with the word Laudate, "Praise ye": "Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise ye him in the high places" (Psalm 148:1). In the old Roman Office these three psalms closed the hour every morning, and the name passed from them to the whole office. The English verb "to laud", to praise, comes from the same Latin root, which is why a dictionary will also give "lauds" as "praises" in ordinary speech; in the Church the word, nearly always plural, names this hour.

Lauds belongs to dawn. The first light recalls Christ, "the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world" (John 1:9), and the hour at which He rose from the tomb. The psalms of the hour say so in their own words: "O God, my God, to thee do I watch at break of day" (Psalm 62:2). That is why the Church sings at sunrise not petitions first but praise.

Matins and Lauds: one night, one dawn

In the first centuries the night vigil of the Church ended at dawn, and its morning conclusion was what we now call Lauds. St Benedict, in the sixth century, still calls the night office Vigils and the dawn office matutini, "the morning praises"; only later did the name Matins pass to the night hours of psalms and lessons, while the dawn office kept the name of its closing psalms. The Sunday hymn of Lauds by St Ambrose still sings of the cock that announces the day.

That is why Matins and Lauds stand so close together. In choir, Lauds follows Matins without a break: when the last responsory or, on Sundays and feasts, the Te Deum ends the night office, the dawn praise begins at once. Our guide to Matins, the night office of the Breviary sets out the hour that leads into it. Prime follows Lauds and offers the day's work to God; but the praise of dawn comes first.

The order of Lauds in the 1962 Breviary

Lauds follows the same order every morning. Only the psalms, antiphons, chapter, hymn and collect change with the day, the season and the feast.

1. The opening. Since 1955 the hour begins directly with the verse of Psalm 69:

V. Deus, in adjutórium meum inténde.
R. Dómine, ad adjuvándum me festína.
V. O God, come to my assistance.
R. O Lord, make haste to help me.

Then the Glory be to the Father and Alleluia, replaced from Septuagesima until Holy Week by Laus tibi, Domine, Rex æternæ gloriæ, "Praise be to thee, O Lord, King of eternal glory."

2. Five psalms with their antiphons. Three psalms, then a canticle from the Old Testament in the fourth place, then a psalm of praise in the fifth. Each is framed by its antiphon and ends with the Glory be. On feasts the antiphons are proper, and the psalms are those of Sunday.

3. The chapter (capitulum). A verse or two of Scripture, answered by Deo gratias. On ordinary Sundays it is Apocalypse 7:12: "Benediction, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen."

4. The hymn. A Latin hymn proper to the day or season; Sunday's is given below.

5. The versicle. On Sundays:

V. Dóminus regnávit, decórem índuit.
R. Induit Dóminus fortitúdinem, et præcínxit se virtúte.
V. The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty.
R. The Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself with power.

6. The Benedictus, the canticle of Zachary, sung under its own antiphon while, at solemn Lauds, the altar is incensed.

7. The collect. After Dóminus vobíscum, the prayer of the day. Then come any commemorations: when a lesser feast or a privileged feria falls on the same day, its antiphon, versicle and prayer are added after the collect, so that nothing the calendar offers that morning is lost. The hour closes with Benedicámus Dómino — Deo grátias and Fidélium ánimæ per misericórdiam Dei requiéscant in pace. Amen, "May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace."

On certain penitential ferias the preces, a short series of petitions, are said kneeling before the collect.

Sunday Lauds I and Lauds II

The Psalter of the Roman Breviary, as arranged by St Pius X in the apostolic constitution Divino afflatu (1911), gives Lauds two series of psalms for every day of the week.

Lauds I is the ordinary, festive scheme. On Sunday it is:

• Psalm 92, Dominus regnavit: "The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty."
• Psalm 99, Jubilate Deo: "Sing joyfully to God, all the earth."
• Psalm 62, Deus, Deus meus: the psalm of the morning watch.
• The Canticle of the Three Children (Daniel 3:57-88, 56), Benedicite: "All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord."
• Psalm 148, Laudate Dominum de cælis: "Praise ye the Lord from the heavens."

Lauds II is the penitential scheme. On Sunday it replaces the first two psalms with Psalm 50, the Miserere ("Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy"), and Psalm 117, Confitemini Domino; keeps Psalm 62; takes as canticle the other hymn of the Three Children, Benedictus es, Domine (Daniel 3:52-57); and ends again with Psalm 148. On weekdays Lauds II likewise opens with the Miserere and takes a different canticle.

Lauds II is said on the Sundays from Septuagesima to Palm Sunday, on the ferias of Advent, on the ferias from Septuagesima to Holy Week, on the Ember Days of September, and on most vigils outside Paschaltide. The rest of the year, and on every feast, Lauds I is sung. The Ordo of the year always says which scheme the day takes.

The Lauds psalms of each day

Before 1911, Psalms 148, 149 and 150 closed Lauds every single morning. Divino afflatu spread the psalms of praise across the week instead, so that each day now ends its Lauds with one of them. The numbering below is that of the Vulgate and the Douay-Rheims, one lower than most modern Bibles for most of the Psalter.

Day	Lauds I (Vulgate numbering)	Canticle in the fourth place
Sunday	92, 99, 62, canticle, 148	Three Children, Benedicite (Dan 3:57-88, 56)
Monday	46, 5, 28, canticle, 116	David (1 Paralipomenon 29)
Tuesday	95, 42, 66, canticle, 134	Tobias (Tobias 13)
Wednesday	96, 64, 100, canticle, 145	Judith (Judith 16)
Thursday	97, 89, 35, canticle, 146	Jeremias (Jeremias 31)
Friday	98, 142, 84, canticle, 147	Isaias (Isaias 45)
Saturday	149, 91, 63, canticle, 150	Ecclesiasticus (Ecclesiasticus 36)

In Lauds II the weekday psalms keep the same order except the first, which is always the Miserere, and the canticles become those of Isaias (Isaias 12), Ezechias (Isaias 38), Anna (1 Kings 2), Moses after the Red Sea (Exodus 15), Habacuc (Habacuc 3) and Moses before his death (Deuteronomy 32). Across a week, then, Lauds sets before us nearly all the great songs of the Old Testament, and every morning ends on the word Laudate.

The hymn of Sunday Lauds

From mid-January to Lent and from October to Advent, Sunday Lauds sings Æterne rerum Conditor by St Ambrose, the hymn of the cock that heralds the dawn and of St Peter's tears. Its first two stanzas, in Latin and in English:

Ætérne rerum Cónditor,
Noctem diémque qui regis,
Et témporum das témpora,
Ut álleves fastídium.

Noctúrna lux viántibus
A nocte noctem ségregans,
Præco diéi jam sonat,
Jubárque solis évocat.

Maker of all, eternal King,
Who day and night about dost bring:
Who weary mortals to relieve,
Dost in their times the seasons give:

Now the shrill cock proclaims the day,
And calls the sun's awak'ning ray,
The wand'ring pilgrim's guiding light,
That marks the watches night by night.

In summer, until the end of September, Sunday Lauds takes instead Ecce jam noctis tenuatur umbra, "Lo, the dim shadows of the night are waning."

The Benedictus: the canticle of Lauds

Every morning, at the summit of the hour, the Church sings the canticle of Zachary, the father of St John the Baptist, from the first chapter of St Luke. Zachary had been struck dumb for his unbelief; at the naming of his son his tongue was loosed, and these were his first words. The Church stands to sing it, as for the Gospel, and makes the sign of the cross at its first word. The Latin is the Vulgate; the English is the Douay-Rheims (Luke 1:68-79).

Benedíctus Dóminus, Deus Israël: quia visitávit, et fecit redemptiónem plebis suæ:
Et eréxit cornu salútis nobis: in domo David, púeri sui.
Sicut locútus est per os sanctórum, qui a sǽculo sunt, prophetárum ejus:
Salútem ex inimícis nostris, et de manu ómnium, qui odérunt nos.
Ad faciéndam misericórdiam cum pátribus nostris: et memorári testaménti sui sancti.
Jusjurándum, quod jurávit ad Ábraham patrem nostrum, datúrum se nobis:
Ut sine timóre, de manu inimicórum nostrórum liberáti, serviámus illi.
In sanctitáte, et justítia coram ipso, ómnibus diébus nostris.
Et tu, puer, Prophéta Altíssimi vocáberis: præíbis enim ante fáciem Dómini, paráre vias ejus:
Ad dandam sciéntiam salútis plebi ejus: in remissiónem peccatórum eórum:
Per víscera misericórdiæ Dei nostri: in quibus visitávit nos, óriens ex alto:
Illumináre his, qui in ténebris, et in umbra mortis sedent: ad dirigéndos pedes nostros in viam pacis.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant:
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who are from the beginning:
Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us:
To perform mercy to our fathers, and to remember his holy testament,
The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father, that he would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear,
In holiness and justice before him, all our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people, unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God, in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death; to direct our feet into the way of peace.

The Glory be to the Father follows, then the antiphon is repeated. Its last verses explain why it belongs to dawn: Christ is the Orient from on high, the rising Sun, who comes to those who sit in darkness. The Benedictus antiphon is proper to each Sunday and feast; on the Sundays after Pentecost it is usually drawn from that day's Gospel, so that the morning already announces the Gospel of the Mass, which you will find among today's Latin Mass readings.

Lauds and Vespers: the two hinges of the day

Lauds and Vespers are the two principal hours of the Office, the two hinges on which the whole day turns. They are built alike: psalms with antiphons, a chapter, a hymn, a versicle, a Gospel canticle, the collect. At dawn the canticle is Zachary's Benedictus, a song of the coming light; at dusk it is Our Lady's Magnificat, a song of thanksgiving for what God has done. Our guides to Vespers, the evening hour of the Divine Office, and to the Magnificat, Mary's canticle, follow the evening half of the day. The morning praises God for the light He gives; the evening thanks Him for the day now ended; and at night Compline commends the soul to Him before sleep.

For anyone who wants to begin praying the Office, Lauds and Vespers are the natural first step. Prayed together, they make the day open and close with the Church.

How to pray Lauds today

No layman is bound to the Office, but every layman may pray it, and Lauds is the Church's own morning prayer.

• Have the text of the day. A printed Breviary will do if you know how to follow the calendar and the ribbons, as our guide to the Roman Breviary of 1962 explains. Otherwise use a source that arranges the hour for the date: our page of today's Lauds from the 1962 Breviary, the free website Divinum Officium, or the Iter Fidei Divine Office app, which sets out each morning's Lauds in Latin and English.
• Keep the hour. At daybreak, or as early in the morning as your duties allow, before the work of the day takes hold.
• Say it aloud, even softly. The psalms are made to be voiced. Chant is the Church's own way of singing them, but recitation is enough.
• Begin small if needed. One psalm, the chapter, the Benedictus and the collect make a true beginning; add the rest as the hour becomes familiar.

The Lauds found on Universalis and in most English-language apps is the Morning Prayer of the 1971 Liturgy of the Hours, a different arrangement with a four-week psalter and no Prime; our pages on the Universalis app and its 1962 alternative and on the Liturgy of the Hours and how it differs explain the difference. The short prayers of the Christian's own waking, said before the Office, are gathered in the traditional Catholic morning prayer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Lauds in the Catholic Church?

The Church's official praise at daybreak, one of the three major hours of the Divine Office with Matins and Vespers. Every cleric in major orders says it daily, monks and nuns sing it in choir, and the laity may join them freely.

What does lauds mean in English?

"Praises." The word is the Latin laudes, plural of laus, "praise," the same root as the English verb "to laud." It is normally used in the plural, and as the name of this hour it is capitalised: Lauds.

What is the difference between Lauds and Morning Prayer?

In the 1962 Breviary, Lauds has five psalms on a weekly cycle, two schemes (festive and penitential), and is followed by Prime. The Morning Prayer of the 1971 Liturgy of the Hours, used by Universalis and most apps, keeps the Benedictus but has two psalms and a canticle on a four-week cycle, with intercessions and the Our Father.

Is Lauds a Mass?

No. Lauds is an hour of the Divine Office, a prayer of praise made of psalms, canticles and hymns; the Mass is the Holy Sacrifice of the altar. In monasteries and some parishes Lauds is sung before the morning Mass, but it is never a Mass itself.

What time is Lauds prayed?

At daybreak. The 1960 rubrics want it said in the early morning; in monasteries it follows Matins before sunrise, and a layman says it on rising or before the day's work begins.

Can a layman pray Lauds?

Yes. Clerics in major orders and choir religious are bound to the Office; the laity are not, but the hour is open to all, and prayed with the Breviary's own words it remains the prayer of the Church.

The Iter Fidei app sets out the traditional Divine Office of 1962 for every day, from Matins and Lauds to Compline, in Latin and English. Join early access here.

Sources. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims (Psalms 50, 62, 69, 92, 99, 117, 148; Daniel 3:52-88; Luke 1:68-79; John 1:9; Apocalypse 7:12); Breviarium Romanum, editio typica 1962 (Psalter, Ordinary of Lauds, Sunday at Lauds I and II); St Pius X, apostolic constitution Divino afflatu (1911); Rubricæ generales Breviarii et Missalis Romani (1960); Rule of St Benedict, chapters 8-16; St Ambrose, hymn Æterne rerum Conditor.