If I’m gonna poast more about Books of Hours, it’ll be good to know more about what they actually are.

Fast facts:

  • Popular from c. 1250 to c. 1550 and the most-survived of all Medieval manuscripts
  • Often (but not always) written in Latin
  • Every one is unique, and often customized even further throughout its life
  • Can range from basic (plain paper with illumination) to super-luxe (parchment, bejeweled bindings, and real gold)

Contents may include:

  • The Divine Office, which is a series of prayers said at steady intervals throughout the day
  • Calendar with feast days
  • Illustrations of scenes from the Bible, such as the Gospels
  • Psalms
  • Suffrages or petitions to specific saints that were important to the BoH’s owner
  • Major family milestones, especially if the BoH was a gift to a wife of am important family

These were clearly books to be used. The contained important information, and pulled you through the day. Some of these books were even used to teach kids how to read.

What I find especially interesting about this is how it shows how daily life can be structured around Scripture. Not even daily life–the whole year! Between feast days and the daily prayers, everyday life was permeated with focus on God. My modern self finds that strange, but a little fascinating.

We are so used to a secular structure. Our days are dictated by our employers, and the public transit schedules, or by television. What would it be like to build our lives around the church? With the freedom given to us by the internet (I can watch a YouTube show any time I want), how could we now structure our lives in a way that is more helpful to our spiritual development?

It’s very interesting to think about these in a post-Protestant era, where we no longer accept without question the authority of the church. How could a Book of Hours be used in a setting with a “church” as a body of people and not an administrative structure?

I like how these books were very personal–some even put the person’s name directly into the prayers–and contained family milestones in addition to church-level milestones. I think one of the greatest evils of our time is the dehumanization of everyday life, and so I’m drawn to the idea that people just made these their own.

Their lives were more precious than the book. They didn’t necessarily regard the book as having the authority.

(Maybe I’m revealing too much of my own bias here.)

I’m serious about wanting to explore more about how a Book of Hours idea might work in today’s world, and what might happen if we change the basis of the structure for our lives. If I make some other schedule the highest priority in my life–over commute times and work meetings and my desire for weekend naps–what would happen? I would have to completely reorient myself.

And isn’t that what God asks of us, anyway?

 

Extras for Experts