**Matins (Matutinum, Laudes matutinae, Officium nocturnum).** — I. In its most ancient sense (until the 11th century) it is the prayer or canonical Hour of the morning that took place at sunrise. Initially, it was a private prayer or “legitimate” oration (Tertullian, *Ad uxorem*, II, 5: “qua lucem ingredimur”; *De oratione*, 23, 25: “ingressu lucis”; Cyprian, *De orat. domin.*, 34, 5: “mane... matutina oratione”; Hippolytus, *Trad. Apost.*, ed. Connolly, pp. 109-93: “circa galli cantum”), though public on Sundays (Const. Apost., II, 59; VIII, 34-39). It then entered liturgical use and became the Church’s prayer (Hilary, *In psalm.* LXIV, 12; Ambrose, *De Elia*, XV, 55; Augustine, *Confess.*, V, 9; Egeria, cf. L. Duchesne, *Origines du culte chrétien*, 5th ed., Paris 1925, p. 512). It was prescribed as the Hour of dawn in monastic Rules (Cassian, Caesarius, Columbanus, especially St. Benedict: “Matutini qui incipiente luce agendi sunt,” chaps. 8, 11, 13; “Matutinorum solemniis,” chap. 12, 13; “Agenda matutina,” chap. 13). In the Church’s Office, Justinian’s Decree of 529 (*Cod. Inst.*, 1. 1. tit. III, lex 41) lists it among the nocturnal group as “matutina preces” (“omnes clerici... nocturnas et matutinas et vespertinas preces clamant”).
Matins does not appear to derive from the division of the Vigil (v.) into three canonical Hours. Since the entire vigil (pannychis) was a severe burden for the faithful, Vespers were established in the evening and Matins at dawn, reserving the vigil for ascetics and monastic virgins. Yet there were three distinct hours of prayer. J. Froger (*Les origines de Prime*, Rome 1946) again identifies the ancient morning prayer with the nocturnal one, positing only two Hours: one in the evening, the other nocturnal-morning. The introduction of a new morning prayer (Cassian: *PL* 49, 126-156) is to be attributed not to the Hour of Prime but to Lauds. This new thesis has many opponents (Masai, J. Jungmann, Chadwick). The solemn and distinctive arrangement of the morning prayers rather indicates a priority over the nocturnal Office. The morning psalms consist of Ps. 62 (Const. Apost., II, 59), the canticle of the Three Children (Caesarius, Benedict: “Benedictus”), and the group of Psalms 148-50 (Cassian, Caesarius, Benedict: “Laudes”); the name of the last group, “Laudes,” was later extended to the entire morning Office: Lauds, the praises of dawn.
II. In the modern sense (from the 12th century) it is the nocturnal Office. It was originally recited at midnight but gradually moved toward morning (Egeria: “ante pullorum cantum”; St. Benedict: “octava hora noctis, modice amplius de media nocte,” chap. 8, at two o’clock after midnight). In the *Ordo Romanus* XI, 3, 9, 15 etc. (ed. Mabillon) and in the *Ordo Off. Eccl. Lateran.* of Bernard of 1145 (ed. Fischer, nn. 27, 28, 31 ff.), the term “Matutinum” or “De matutinis” is already used in the new sense; Lauds are called “matutinae laudes.” By the time of Amalarius (d. 850), on days with a double Office—weekday and saint’s feast overlapping—the saint’s Office was said before midnight (“circa vespertinam horam”: Amalarius, *De ordine antiphonalum*, chap. 17), and the weekday Office at cockcrow or at the morning hours (“in superiore parte noctis”: Amalarius, loc. cit.). Thus the double usage was prepared: on the one hand, the nocturnal Office was anticipated on the evening of the day; on the other, it was said “circa diei crepusculum,” in the morning (G. Beleth, *Explicatio divini Officii*, chap. 20: *PL* 202, 32). The nocturnal prayer, shifted toward morning, took the name of Matins.
From the private practice of ancient Christians rising at midnight to pray (Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus; *Trad. Apost.*, ed. Connolly, pp. 192-193, 198-199; ed. Dix, pp. 65-67), a twofold interruption of the night arose: “circa mediam noctem,” “circa galli cantum.” Thus this common prayer began in the Church: every night in the convents of ascetics, among women, and also among other Christians. Psalms were sung, interspersed with a collect by the priest (Egeria), and Scripture was read (Hippolytus). These two forms of nocturnal prayer—greater on Sundays and lesser on weekdays—still recur today: on Sundays, to the first nocturnal prayer (already 12 psalms and 3 lessons), two more were added (each with 3 psalms and 3 lessons). From this nocturnal prayer must be distinguished the full Paschal vigil (of Easter and Pentecost, pannychis), the vigils on the anniversaries of martyrs or Ember Days; these vigils are quite distinct from the nocturnal prayer. The vigils began before midnight and ended with the solemnity of the Eucharist, while the nocturnal prayer was said after midnight and then toward morning; yet there were similarities in the manner of reciting psalms and lessons.
Since the reform of Pius X, made obligatory from January 1913, the millennial distribution of psalmody into the three great Hours—Vespers, Matins, Lauds—was replaced by a new weekly arrangement, assigning 9 psalms to Matins (instead of the former 18 on Sundays and 12 on weekdays) and, while respecting the ancient *Ordo psallendi*, placing Psalms 1-108 for Matins.
In major feasts (excepting Easter and Pentecost) and, after the reform of Pius X, also on Sundays, Matins consists of 3 Nocturns, each with the regular order of 3 psalms, 3 lessons, and 3 responsories; on ordinary or ferial days, of 1 Nocturn with 9 psalms and 3 lessons (and responsories). The monastic Order established by St. Benedict differs from the universal Church’s order and preserves customs then in vogue both in Rome and in the monasteries of the East and Gaul (Cassian).