NONA. - It is that part of the Divine Office which is recited at the ninth hour (= 3 p.m.), according to the Greek-Roman division of the day. This hour of prayer, already used in the Synagogue (cf. Dan. 6:10; Ps. 54:18), passed into Christian use (Acts 3:1; cf. 2:15; 10:9) as a private prayer to sanctify the day (Didache, ch. 8, 3; Tertullian, De oratione, 23; De ieiunio, ch. 10; Apostolic Constitutions, ch. VIII, no. 34, 1); as a canonical hour reserved to monks it was in use in the 4th century. During the 5th century it was also introduced into the daytime Office of the basilicas of the City.

It is composed of the hymn (originally absent from the Roman Office), of three Psalms (the number three already used by the monks of Egypt), of a lesson followed by a responsory (in the Roman Office), a versicle and the final prayer.

By the earliest writers (Hippolytus, Apostolic Constitutions, Cyprian and others) various relations were established between the individual daytime hours and certain moments of the Passion of Christ and of the life of the Apostles, but the Church has not accepted them, except for the hymn of Terce. But there is a special relation between the daytime hours and Holy Mass: on feasts and Sundays the conventual Mass is said after Terce, on weekdays after Sext, in times of fasting and penance (Advent, Lent, Vigil) after None. In these last two cases, Sext and None are anticipated before noon.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: C. Callewaert, De Breviarii Romani liturgia, Bruges 1931, p. 112; id., De parvis horis Romanis ante Regulam s. Benedicti, in Sacris Erudiri, Steenbrugge 1940, pp. 119-26; M. Albright, Sacra liturgia, l'Orazione pubblica, Vicenza 1942, pp. 88-90; M. Righetti, Manuale di storia liturgica, II, Milan 1946, pp. 422-23, 584-86; E. Dekkers, Tertullianus en de Geschiedenis der Liturgie, Brussels 1947, p. 119.

Pietro Siffrin

@incollection{ec8_nona, author = {Siffrin, Pietro}, title = {Nona}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1927}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/nona} }

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