FIRST. - Canonical hour recited at the beginning of the day. It consists of two distinct parts, Prime properly so called (the office of the choir) and the office of the Chapter; the one was said in choir, the other instead in the chapter hall.
The first part follows the model of the other three older Little Hours. It is preceded by the Pater, the Ave (after Pius V) and the Creed (in remembrance of Baptism); after the "Deus, in adiutorium" follow the hymn "Iam lucis orto sidere", three psalms (before the reform of Pius X, 5). The text of the Chapter, like that of the versicle, is characteristic of Prime (a double Chapter, one for Sundays and feasts, the other for ferias); the final supplication, also characteristic, already indicated in the Sacramentary of Gellone, 8th century, is never changed, like the final conclusion of the other canonical Hours, except Compline. In the ferial, simple and semidouble Offices, between the Chapter and the supplication are inserted special prayers ("preces dominicales", substantially of the 8th century, and "feriales" of the 10th-11th century), closed by the "Confiteor" (which was anciently in the second part of Prime). The second part, the office of the Chapter, of which mention is already found in the Ordo XVIII (3rd, Andrieu) and in the Rule of Chrodegang of Metz (d. 760), is a complex of lessons, exhortations, prayers and blessings that are not found in the other canonical Hours. It was originally the assembly of the monks to receive from the abbot the dispositions for the day. The confession of sins was made (as now in the first part), then the various occupations were assigned: to the kitchen, the library, the fields, etc.; appropriate prayers followed, a chapter of the Rule was read (whence the name of the act itself and of the place of assembly) followed by an exhortation and the abbot's blessing. This monastic office was later carried over also into cathedral and secular Chapters. In time the following order was established: 1) the martyrology of the following day, sometimes also the necrology (a review of the names of deceased confreres, associates and benefactors); 2) the prayers appropriate for the sanctification of work; 3) an instruction and a blessing followed by the reading of a chapter of the Rule (in the secular Office a brief scriptural lesson). In the monastic Office a commemoration and prayer for the dead were added.
It was believed that Prime originated from a monastery of Bethlehem toward the end of the 4th century where, according to an account of Cassian, some monks began the daily work after Lauds, while others instead did so after a period of rest prolonged until Terce. To shorten this interval a new hour of prayer was introduced, called "novella sollemnitas" (our Prime), which spread with Cassian's books everywhere in the monasteries. Recently J. Froger has maintained that this innovation is not the present Prime, because the psalms recited were the same as those of Lauds. On the contrary, Prime originated in the West, and there is notice of it only in the 6th century: it is found for the first time in the Rule of St. Caesarius of Arles and more developed and extended already to all the days of winter in that of St. Aurelian. It is not known to Cassiodorus, but received its definitive organization from St. Benedict and became a canonical Hour.
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Pietro Siffini