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Camaldolese Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict
monastic community of Camaldoli

Holy Hermitage of Camaldoli - Arezzo
Monastery of Camaldoli - Arezzo
Monastery of St. Gregory al Celio - Roma






eremo@camaldoli.it
monastero@camaldoli.it
sangregorio@camaldoli.it
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liturgy of the Hours
an unproductive ritual


monastic liturgy




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monks gather and pause before the liturgy of the Hours
monks' 'statio'
before the liturgy of the Hours
The bell is rung for prayer

For the Camaldolese monastic community which belongs to the Order of St. Benedict, the bell is rung four times a day for communal prayer-the so-called "Divine Office" in the Rule of St. Benedict (nothing should be preferred to the Divine Office: ch. 43.3), and called today "Liturgy of the Hours" from the liturgical reform promoted by Vatican Council II.
  • Office of Readings or Nocturns (a little before dawn)
  • Lauds
  • Noon Prayer
  • Vespers
    The Liturgy of the Hours is an unproductive ritual: it wastes time in orer to receive it as a gift.
    At fixed hours, the versical rhythm interrupts chronological time in order to rediscover time as an occasion for grace, because it is visited by the eternal presence of God.




    • liturgy of the hours 
    pray in choir 
    personal prayer, prayer in choir 

    monastic psalter 



    monks pray in choir
    liturgy of the hours
    monks pray in choir

    Why do the monks pray in choir?

    As noted, the whole Church is called to the Liturgy of the Hours, or to prayer during time's rhythms.
    But only various religious communities, and particularly monks, are required to celebrate it together.
    In a place called 'choir' (whether inside or outside the main church), the monastic community "does choir" by singing psalms to praise and thank God to whom the remainder of the day is offerred, spent with brothers and sisters in work and service.
    To pray in choir shows the twofold aspect of faith in God: to pray means to entrust oneself to another.
    The believer must learn to trust in God, living the choral space based on faithfulness.


    organ and music during the liturgy

         organ, music and liturgy



    the church - the church is the place for liturgical sharing between monks and guests
    the church is the place
    for liturgical sharing
    between monks and guests

    The choir is an open space

    A monastic community that belongs to the Orer of St. Benedict always keeps prayer open to guests who want to share this time during the year.
    And it is a regenerative experience when it becomes a precious moment around which the monk's or guest's day revolves: silence-listening to the Word of God-personal dialogue-work.
    Who intersect the respective waitings, who find 'peace' mysteriously for all one's individual passions and tensions of the whole world. An experience of God would not even be conceivable separated from history, at least according to Sacred Scripture where the Father of Jesus Christ reveals his faithful and eternal love in the gift of the Holy Spirit.


    Eagerness for choir

    The familiarity of the monastic community with choral prayer is one of the motives for which guests and pilgrims seek to spend time in a hermitage or monastery.
    At Camaldoli, as elsewhere, one tries to practice the monastic precept by which each one seeks 'peace of heart', a unity between oneslef and God, the world, and others.
    Still, the principle is founded on the grace of prayer, because no one can be under the illusion of how long one's own peace or another's might last. Everyone must constantly invoke it from the Eternal love that flows each day in the flux of daily life.
    With choral prayer everyone sustains the other in the alternations of historical events.



    monks pray singing psalms

          monks pray singing psalms

    Go to home page  monastic community of Camaldoli - Italy © 2002  credits  
     Holy Hermitage of Camaldoli 52010 Camaldoli - Arezzo   tel +39 0575 556021   fax +39 0575 556001 eremo@camaldoli.it 
     Monastery of Camaldoli 52010 Camaldoli - Arezzo   tel +39 0575 556012   fax +39 0575 556001 monastero@camaldoli.it 
     Monastery of St. Gregory al Celio 00184 Roma - piazza S. Gregorio al Celio 1   tel +39 06 7008227  fax +39 06 7009357 sangregorio@camaldoli.it