Canonical Hours

Canonical Hours, certain stated hours of the day assigned to prayer and devotion. Such are Nocturns, Matins, Lauds, Nones, Vespers, and Complini. It is not known at what period these hours were settled in the early Church. The Apostolical Constitutions direct prayers to be said at dawn, and at the third, sixth, and ninth hours, as well as at evening. In England the canonical hours are from eight to twelve in the forenoon, before or after which marriage cannot lawfully be performed in any church. — Bingham, Orig. Ecclesiastes bk. 13, ch. 9, § 8; Procter On Common Prayer, p. 10. SEE BREVIARY.