The "Liturgy of the Hours" (a.k.a. "The Divine Office" or "Breviary") is the daily prayer of the universal Church, with different "hours" prayed at various times of the day and night. It is based primarily on the Psalms, but also incorporates other biblical texts, canticles, hymns, prayers, and even some non-biblical readings. The three "major hours" are Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and the Office of Readings (prayed at any time during the day). Other hours include "Daytime Prayer" and "Night Prayer."
Basic Terminology:
"Ordinary of the Liturgy of the Hours" - the overall structure of the various prayer times, from the Introductory Dialogue to the Final Prayer and Blessing, with various sequences of Hymns, Psalms, Canticles, Antiphons, Readings, Responses, and Prayers in between.
"Four-Week Psalter" - the arrangement of the biblical Psalms and Canticles that is used on most days and weeks of the Liturgical Year.
"Proper of Seasons" - texts used in the various "seasons" of the liturgical year: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and "Ordinary Time."
"Proper of Saints" - special texts used only on the more important feast days of the Lord Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, or other Saints.
"Commons" - additional texts that could be used, mostly on an optional basis, on the feasts and memorials of lesser-known saints.
Charts and Overviews:
The materials gathered in this section of the "Catholic Resources" website are intended primarily to provide overviews of the biblical and non-biblical texts used throughout the Liturgy of the Hours.
The bottom of each hymn in the Liturgy of Hours list some numbers, called the "meter," which correspond to the number of syllables in each line of the verses.
In addition to "Common Meter" (86.86) and "Long Meter" (88.88), other hymns have meters like76.76 or 87.87 or 10.10.10.10 or 12.11.12.11 (Ash Grove: "Let All Things Now Living"), or many other possibilities.
This is useful to know, since any hymn with a particular meter can be sung using all tune with the same meter (since the number of syllables will match the number of notes in each line of each verse).
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