Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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BREVIARY

The liturgical book containing the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church. Formerly the various "hours" of the office were in different books, e.g., the Psaltery, the Hymnary, and the Lectionary. But from the eleventh century they began to be combined in one book. The complete test of the Liturgy of the Hours is published in four consecutive volumes. These volumes are divided according to the following calendar year: Advent and Christmas season, Lent and Easter season, the first through the seventeenth, and the eighteenth through the thirty-fourth weeks of the year. (Etym. Latin breviarium, a summary, abridgment.)

See Also: DIVINE OFFICE